Thank you everyone who read this story and stuck with it. It means so much that you took the time to read and share your thoughts. I am a huge Buffy fan (and also Angel), and when I got the idea to use the Whirlwind seen in both shows and make it Faberrittana, I was very inspired.

ThankyouMolly, forbeinganamazing betaandlovingme. Youremyworld. Seediditinfivewords.

Thank you for your patience and support. I hope you enjoy the conclusion.

Warnings: Major character deaths, violence, and blood play.

---

Lima, Ohio. Present day.

They were all on the floor of a dusty, dank basement, barely able to sit upright: Sam, arm broken and green in the face; Mercedes, nursing a head lesion that trickled blood; Mike, blinking rapidly to stay conscious from his bloody head wound; Tina, crying silently as her lower lip trembled; Artie, trying and failing to hold in tears of his own; and Emma Pillsbury, still out cold with no signs of waking any time soon. They watched on, fearing the juxtaposition of the show unfolding in front of them, more so than the losses they've already suffered and the injuries they've accrued collectively. And still, the three hauntingly beautiful and horrific vampires before them sang.

If it wasn't all so terrifying it would be amusing. The way that Quinn, Brittany, and Santana, still in the Cheerios uniforms they had stolen from the school, snapped their fingers and swayed to the music they had put on moments before. Quinn in the lead with Santana and Brittany doing basic, synchronized choreography behind her, seemingly performing to entertain their new hostages. And just out of sight for the kids was Rachel, hidden in the shadows watching the show. Smirking, enjoying what she was seeing.

"Whenever you're near, I hear a symphony, a tender melody, pulling me closer, closer to your arms," Quinn purred, Santana and Brittany offering their voices to enrich the song. "Then suddenly, I hear a symphony, ooh your lips are touching mine, a feeling so divine, 'til I leave the past behind. I'm lost in a world made for you and me."

The vampires continued singing. Making each note and twirl seem effortless. But they were distracted. Mike took the opportunity to turn his head slightly towards Mercedes. "We have to do something," he whispered, panicked.

Once Mercedes and the vampires showed up, the glee kids had learned of Rachel's trick and their fear and panic had grown insurmountably. Mercedes swallowed around the nausea and nodded with a small jerk of her head. "I know. Can you do any magic?"

Mike mustered all his strength, his eyes tightly shut, face pinched in concentration as he held his breath. Mercedes watched on until Mike sighed in exhaustion, eyes fluttering open. "No. I think I have a concussion and it's stopping me from tapping into it."

"That's good then, right? That means you can't do the spell they want you to do," she whispered back, eying the performance in front of her.

"They don't want me to do it, though. They want Tina."

Mercedes frowned at that. Wasn't Mike more powerful? "Tina?" she asked, confused.

Mike nodded until it started to make him feel nauseated. "Yeah. That's what they said." The vampires had said as much to Mercedes, but the slayer was still confused over the whole business. Huffing quietly, Mercedes tried to think of a way to get out of this mess. She had no problem despite the pounding in her head to fight her way out of it. And if she were alone, she'd do everything in her power to do just that. But she wasn't alone. If she were to fight it would get them all killed.

Mercedes was far from on her A-game. They were sitting ducks, Mercedes mused, as she glanced around the musty basement. She had been out cold when the vampires had brought her down into the basement. Not sure where they were, how far they were from civilization, from Lima, and without backup of any kind, they were more than just sitting ducks.

"Baby, baby, as you stand holding me, whispering, how much you care, a thousand violins fill the air," the vampires continued to sing. Mercedes knew the song was almost over. It was one of her favorite Supremes songs. Or, it had been. "Now baby, baby, don't let this moment end, keep standing, close to me, ooh, ooh, so close to me, baby, baby. Baby, baby, I hear a symphony, a tender melody..."

The music faded away and it was only quiet for a moment before Rachel appeared practically skipping into Mercedes's view, clapping uproariously and smiling brightly. She threw herself into Quinn's arms and the pair immediately started kissing, just as Brittany and Santana wrapped themselves up in one other.

When Rachel pulled away from Quinn, however, she was frowning deeply as she ran her fingers through her girlfriend's blonde ponytail. Slowly she turned her head until she was looking at the kids. "Why aren't you applauding? Their rendition of the classic Supremes' hit was flawless and well-choreographed."

Mercedes, Mike, Tina, Artie, and Sam only blinked back stupidly, in too much pain or experiencing far too much fear to react.

"I said applaud!" Rachel snarled, pressing forward threateningly, her face changing in an instant until her fangs were bared.

All at once, the kids started to clap. Sam's face was screwed up in pain as he attempted to use his broken arm and both Mercedes and Mike were stoic as they slapped their hands together.

Rachel gave a beaming smile to the kids before turning back to Quinn. "It truly was lovely, Quinn, thank you."

Quinn gave her a shy smile in return. "We had practiced over a year ago…we only just now had the opportunity to perform it for you."

At the mention of the past Rachel frowned, her gaze cutting to the still kissing Brittany and Santana before looking at her lover. "Yes. A year ago…"

"Now, Rachel, don't do this," Quinn warned softly, reaching out to try and take Rachel's hand. But Rachel simply turned her back on Quinn and crossed her arms over her chest.

"And why shouldn't I? Hmmm? You left me. You left me for a whole year!"

Quinn raked a frustrated hand through the ends of her ponytail just as Brittany and Santana broke apart, both frowning at the raised voices. "And what about us?"

Rachel slowly looked over her shoulder at where Brittany and Santana were staring at her. "What about you, Santana?" Rachel asked with little interest, a fact that's proven with a roll of her eyes.

Santana scoffed loudly, prompting Brittany to rub her back soothingly. "You left us. It was bad enough that Quinn was gone, but you too?"

"Santana-" Brittany and Quinn said at the same time in a placating tone that they've both used for over a hundred years whenever Rachel and Santana had a disagreement.

Rachel waved them off, however, and advanced on her. "And if Brittany had been the one to leave, Santana? What would you have done?"

Santana brushed off Brittany's hand and closed the distance between her and Rachel. "I would have stayed! You are my family and I would have stayed!"

It was Rachel's turn to scoff. "Please! The day after Quinn had gone I went to find the two of you and you were in the middle of a feed, fucking like always, without a care in the world! You had each other and I was alone. So I left! Funny how it took you so long to track me down. Brittany has freaking visions! Surely I wasn't so difficult to locate!"

The four vampires all started talking at once, throwing jabs and defending their actions.

Using the impending storm, Mike and Mercedes traded looks: if there was ever a time they could get away, now would be it: with the vampires distracted and fighting with one another. Mercedes nodded her head towards Tina, silently telling him that she would have to be the one to get away. It could really only be one of them, and if the vampires wanted Tina to do a spell, it would be best for all if the witch wasn't there to perform it. The fact that Tina was the only one not hurt, or confined to a wheelchair, made the most sense for her to be the one to get away.

Mike turned his head marginally until he could whisper into his girlfriend's ear. She didn't like the plan. Not one bit. But he told her their logic: they wouldn't notice small Tina slip away. The vampires needed Tina the most. All four of them would want to go after Tina as fast as possible, and Mercedes, Mike, and Sam could slow them down enough to give the girl a head start. Then, when they were alone, the kids would escape too.

Mike didn't want to lie to Tina (the chances the vampires would leave the kids alive before chasing after Tina were slim), but her safety was more important than his own. Tina nodded, sensing Mike wasn't telling her everything, but understanding that she couldn't do whatever spell the vampires wanted her to cast. She'd put them all in danger if she attempted the spell and succeeded. Equally, if she was unable to cast the spell, they all would be slaughtered in retribution.

"Enough!" Quinn finally screamed, not at all pleased with how her family was behaving. She forcefully pulled Rachel away from Santana and nodded to Brittany to do the same with her lover. "This is all my fault," she began softly. "I got cursed. I should have known better than to do what I did with that girl."

"You didn't have to leave, either," Rachel mumbled, looking downright petulant.

Quinn smiled tenderly at her and then nodded, her expression growing serious. "I didn't want you to see me like this, Rach." She then glanced at Brittany and Santana. "I didn't want any of you to see me like this."

It took everything inside the kids not to watch as Tina slowly slipped away from the back room, inches at a time, towards where the stairs of the basement lay hidden in the shadows. Mercedes forced herself to listen to the story unraveling in front of her. Maybe if she knew more about this curse, what had happened to the Unholy Trinity plus one, maybe they could use that to their advantage.

"But, Quinn!" Rachel pleaded, "we don't care about that!" Both Brittany and Santana shook their heads, seemingly miserable that Quinn thought so little of them.

"Rachel! The spell the clan cast on me prevents me from killing. I can't even hit a human, never mind brutally massacre one! How could I let you see me so...so... boring!?"

"We could have helped you, grand-mommy!" Brittany sniffled.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Brittany…how many times have I asked you not to call me that!"

Brittany ducked her head as she batted her eyelashes. "Sorry, grand-mommy."

Rachel cut in before anyone could say more. "The point is, Quinn, that you could have at least waited! You were cursed, and a day later you were gone! It's not like you had a disgusting soul! You are just unable to do harm to humans; we would've made up for that!" she stressed, indicating a nodding Brittany and Santana as well.

"I was looking for a cure!"

"We could have looked together!" Rachel said, her frustration mounting. "A year without you has been excruciating!" She took a breath she didn't need and waited a beat before whispering dramatically, "I had my suicide all planned!"

Silence lasted only a moment before Santana snorted. "Ever the diva."

Brittany's face screwed up in confusion. "How were you going to kill yourself? You're, like, a vampire."

Rachel folded her arms and frowned at the less than causal response to her grand announcement. "I was going to fix a stake to a wall and throw myself upon it." She only received blank looks.

"How long did it take you to come up with that grand plan?" Santana asked, inspecting her nails. Rachel's anger flared up again and she started fighting off Quinn's retraining arms to bear down on the vampire.

"I'll have you know, Santana, that-"

"All right, Rachel, that's enough," Quinn said, keeping her lover pinned against her.

"If anyone is really, really mean here, it's totes you, mommy," Brittany said, getting everyone's attention. "You told that bartender guy to tell the slayer about us. You wanted us killed."

"Yeah!" Santana said, folding her arms and glaring at Rachel.

Rachel, however, was doing her best not to laugh. "Sorry?" she offered, the corners of her mouth lifting. Quinn smirked at the sight while Brittany pouted and Santana frowned. "What?!" Rachel said, now fully smiling. "It's not like you couldn't handle the child and her band of idiots! You're legendary vampires! For crying out loud, Santana, you could have taken a nap while Brittany did all the work. That's how little of a threat they all are to us! I needed to get them on my side! It wasn't even a calculated risked, it was just calculated!"

Tina held her breath, a room over, as she heard Rachel's words. She got the distinct impression that Rachel wasn't just being cocky. And now, here she was trying to escape. Was this the wrong move?

"Watch out for the bodies," Tina heard, just beside her. She gasped as she looked up, just making out Brittany in the dark; she hadn't even heard the vampire coming. "You have to be careful where you're walking back here. Mommy killed a couple girls and their bodies are right there." Brittany tilted her head in thought for a moment. "I guess there could be more than a couple bodies down here, though. She's been using this house for a few days," she finished, then inhaled deeply. Tina's heart pounded away, waiting for Brittany to reach out and kill her. But the vampire merely appeared thoughtful before shrugging. "Anyway, you want to be careful where you walk. Maybe it's just best if you come back in the other room or else I'll eat your boyfriend's face off."

Holding out her hand for Tina to take, Brittany smiled and waited. Tina put her shaking hand in Brittany's cold one and was lead back into the room where all the action was. The other vampires didn't even bother looking up from their conversation. The kids, however, all traded fearful glances.

"There you go," Brittany said as she patted Tina's head, smiling again as the witch retook her seat. "Sit back down and let's wait for when it's your turn to do stuff." She skipped back over to the other vampires. "Mommy?" she asked softly.

Rachel looked away from Santana and smiled at Brittany. "What is it, baby?"

"Are there only two bodies down here? The witch almost tripped over the ones by the stairs. The ones that are dressed like we are," she offered helpfully, indicating the Cheerios uniforms.

Rachel thought about that for a moment. "Yes, Brittany, just the two bodies."

"Cheerios?" Mercedes bravely asked, looked up defiantly at Rachel. She didn't want to address the vampires, but she had to know who from her school was dead.

Rachel nodded with a smirk. "Teaches that bitch Kitty and her friend for Slushying me." Mercedes and Mike traded horrified looks, suddenly remembering that Kitty hadn't been to glee club practice in several days. They had just assumed she was sick like Marley and Jake.

"Slushying?" Santana asked, half laughing. "What the fuck is 'slushying?'"

Rachel huffed her answer. "Moving on. Our window of time is closing. We still have to do our spell before the main event." She turned to smile at the three other vampires. "Is everyone ready for the main event?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Santana smirked.

At the question, Rachel frowned heavily. "Ottoman Empire. 1908," Rachel said dryly, glowering at Santana.

Santana's vampiric face erupted from underneath her scowl. "I told you it hadn't been my fault!"

"Sure, of course," Rachel said with a sarcastic smirk. "Those Turks had just fallen onto your fangs and you were helpless save sucking the entire villages' blood and that is why you couldn't come help us as we fought off the entire third Army Corps ourselves!"

Before Santana could reply, Quinn got in the middle of the pair. "I think we're losing sight of the bigger picture here. We do not have much time."

Nodding sagely, Rachel took an unnecessary breath and beamed. "As always, Quinn, you're correct. We should get started."

Panicked over what that could mean, Mercedes thought it was time to get the villain's monologue-ing. "There's four of you," the slayer commented, hoping a little time was all they would need to get them out of this jam. The vampires mentioned several times that they were on a time crunch. If maybe Mercedes could stall, then they could stop whatever the four vampires had planned.

Brittany frowned at Mercedes. "So, what, you can count; that's not going to help you be a good slayer. You know that, right?"

Mercedes ignored Brittany and pressed on. "You call yourselves the Unholy Trinity. But there's four of you."

"First of all, Taystee," Santana sneered, "we don't call ourselves shit. Once upon a time, in a land far far away, we just happened to kill a bunch of people and got a fun name out of it."

"Second of all," Brittany continued, "what does there being four of us have anything to do with our name being the Unholy Trinity?"

Now everyone ignored Brittany.

"What makes you think we'd share something so personal to us?" Quinn threatened, bearing down on the slayer with her lip curled.

Rachel placed a soft hand on Quinn's wrist. "Now, Quinn, Brittany, Santana; I think it's only fair that we tell them a little bit about ourselves before we mercilessly slaughter them. Don't you agree?" The kids gulped.

Santana groaned loudly. "It's a lot more boring, though," she mumbled.

---

Somewhere outside of London, England: 1666

Quinn knew Sue well enough that her sire would be livid. She'd want to strike back at Quinn immediately for killing off her army and getting Rachel out alive in the bargain, and would likely sire every person she came across in an effort to again build an army. Quinn would need to get Rachel as far away as possible.

The problem was, however, the city of London was under attack. Hundreds of people were dying weekly, and the suburbs of London were guarded to keep the mass exodus at bay. The summer was hot, the stench around the city's walls was sufficient enough to churn even Quinn's stomach, and the farther they got from the ashes of Rachel's home, the more dangerous it was for the girl.

There were plus sides, however: the stink of rotting corpses that had been infected by the plague was so bad, it masked her and Rachel's scent from Sue. And two, there were many abandoned homes; whether their old inhabitants were dead or had fled to greener pastures, Quinn cared not. The downside to all of this, of course, was Rachel's safety. Also, there was the matter of where Rachel would perform.

The area was hardly theater-friendly. Inside London, there were many play houses, including one that had showed great interest in Rachel. Problem was, it was too dangerous to travel directly into London. They would need to stay somewhere just outside, away from the biggest infected areas. Nowhere was really safe, but it was better than being in the belly of the beast.

That left the towns around London's filthy walls. Again, problems arose. Border patrols were in place around each town to make sure no infected sneaked in and contaminated its population. The very wealthy were able to buy their ticket to safety—infected or not—but when you're traveling with a vampire, that left a whole host of limitations.

For one, Quinn didn't have a pulse. Having a doctor check and sign-off on her well-being was out of the question. Even if they were able to find one of those very rich people, rob them blind, and go to the Lord Mayor to have him give Quinn the certificate of good health in return for a handsome fee, Quinn was fairly certain that Rachel would never allow it—stealing or killing might piss Rachel off further. The thought caused Quinn to frown as she continued to walk in search of a destination, Rachel fast asleep, finally, over her shoulder.

The safer the location, the farther away from playhouses. The more playhouses, the higher the likelihood that Rachel would get sick. Quinn felt as though she was in a complete lose/lose situation. However, if worse came to worse and Rachel got sick, Quinn could always just turn her. It wouldn't taste as good, but it was better than never tasting Rachel at all, and she could hardly let the girl die: Quinn wanted more time with the human, and a measly thirty-some years wasn't going to cut it.

That was the thought that plagued Quinn as she made her way into the heart of a small square in the center of the town. She wasn't familiar with England, even less so with the small towns outside of London. She felt Rachel stir as Quinn stood still sniffing the air to see if she could catch a hint of the disease. It smelled of death and that was as good an indicator as any that the plague was there. But Quinn had passed a playhouse and the dying didn't occupy every house. This town would have to do.

Next came lodging. Quinn would rather just knock on a door and smile sweetly while asking for room and board for the night. She'd be invited in, naturally, and then she would snap the neck of the occupant declaring the residency her's and Rachel's.

For a moment Quinn considered placing Rachel down somewhere, still sleeping, and carrying out her plan. But she would worry too much about Rachel. Something could happen to her in that time Quinn was away. She could always just wake Rachel, but she doubted the girl would be very cooperative around Quinn seeing as she now knew the truth of it all. She's cry out and cause a scene.

Quinn rolled her eyes. Rachel Berry was a real pain in the ass with all her morals.

Luckily, there was a house with a sign on the door a mile from the square that declared vacancy for room and board. Quinn didn't have a great deal of money on her, but she felt sure it would be enough. She went to the door and knocked, surprised when Rachel didn't even stir, but, instead, cuddled closer to Quinn.

An elderly woman came to the door frowning. She looked bad-tempered even when Quinn smiled, her sharp eyes going to Rachel draped over Quinn's shoulder and back to Quinn.

"Yes?" the woman asked, scowling further.

"I was wondering about the room for rent, miss. My sister and I have traveled from the south hoping to find a place to stay." The woman didn't look impressed. "I assure you that we are completely healthy and have the means to pay you richly." The woman still looked unimpressed. "Fine. May I at least come in and clean up my sister?"

This caused the woman to frown deeper, the road map of wrinkles on her face more obvious. "You can come in," she began, folding her arms across her chest, "over my dead body!"

And then, because she obviously really wanted to make her point clear, the woman stuck her head out of the door to tap her nose to Quinn's, "Best scram before I call out for the bobby!"

Quinn rolled her eyes: people were so stupid. With the hand not supporting Rachel, Quinn reached up and quickly snapped the neck of the woman. Quinn smiled at her handy work, happily stepping over the woman's dead body, and then felt Rachel snuggle closer around her. "Oh, damn," Quinn breathed out, knowing she was going to get an earful from Rachel as soon as the girl came to and found out what Quinn had done.

She couldn't worry about that now. So she closed the door behind her and set out to investigate the house for a warm, comfy place for Rachel to continue sleeping. She would have to feed the girl next. Quinn had spent a lot of time observing humans and realized that their feeding schedules were almost constant. Throughout any given day you'd always see at least one human eating. Quinn wished she could remember her life as a human a little clearer, but it was so long ago and blurry, like a dream just out of conscious reach. She'd have to go off of what she had observed. They would need a lot of food if Rachel was going to be constantly eating. It made sense really: vampires always wanted to feed as well. It would probably be the same for people.

With that in mind Quinn set Rachel down on the main bed in the house. It was a small two floor, home with nothing more than a sitting chair and a small table in the kitchen area on the first floor. Quinn wrinkled her nose: she wanted something grander and she doubted the rooms upstairs were anything to boast. Rachel deserved more and so did Quinn. She was sick of living like a peasant. She wanted the finest things and she'd make damn well sure Rachel got the best.

She'd have to steal. And kill. And threaten and maim. Rachel wouldn't have to know. And even if she was to find out, what could just one human do?

X

Rachel awoke confused, exhausted, hungry, and with a weight on her chest that threatened to suffocate her. Her eyes slowly blinked open until she was staring at wooden planks that made up the ceiling in a room she had never seen before. It took a moment, but then the images of Quinn's vampire face were recalled. Watching vampires killing vampires. Her parents huddled on the floor as Quinn dragged her away. Sue. The vampires taking her and her family. Laughing at her. Making crude jokes and grabbing at her.

Her parents were gone. Dead, most likely. Their home and theater burned to the ground. She was traveling with a monster with no money, no hope, and an ache inside her that made it feel as though she was burning under her skin.

She had lost everything all in one day. Everything. The woman that she was falling in love with was a vampire. Rachel wasn't completely naive. She had heard the whispers about such animals from the men around the playhouse. Had read about the strange deaths and disappearances and the lore that went with them. She'd have to run away. She would find something to do. Maybe work at a playhouse again, gathering props and making sets.

Rachel felt the tears well in her eyes. The likelihood that a playhouse would employ a woman were slim. She didn't know how far away she was from home and all that was familiar. Quinn could have lied to her about the job opportunities. Could have lied to her about everything just to lure her away. Rachel had no skills to speak of that could help her outside a playhouse. For a brief moment Rachel considered that she could perhaps be a seamstress: she was called to sew a few costumes that had been ripped or torn during a fight scene on stage. But that hope was quickly dashed when she remembered she was dreadfully slow at sewing. Mostly she just hated it because her small hands were not made for manual labor.

Now that she had a taste for it, Rachel couldn't picture doing anything other than performing on stage for a packed house. Hearing the cheers and laughter. Seeing the tears and hearing the applause. Nothing else would do.

"You are awake."

Rachel jerked up, caught unawares by Quinn's sudden appearance and whimpered at the sight of the angelic vampire in the doorway.

"And still frightened," Quinn said flatly. "This is getting tiresome, Rachel. I think I have proven that I have no ill will towards you." It was then that Rachel saw the tray of food in Quinn's hand. The vampire offered a pleased smile as she looked down at the large spread. "I thought you perhaps hungry. Will this be enough?" she asked, indicating the loaf of bread and the beef scraps she had stolen from the butcher.

Rachel turned away, disinterested in eating anything Quinn had to offer despite her aching hunger.

"Have it your way," Quinn said. She set the tray on the bedside table and turned to leave. "I have a friend outside keeping guard in case you had any ideas about leaving. I will be exploring the town and will be back just before daybreak." Quinn studied Rachel's frozen frame a moment, enjoying the girl's presence. "I suggest you eat."

Rachel said nothing nor did she move until she heard Quinn leave the house. She quickly got out of the lumpy bed and hurried to the only window in the room, peeking out just in time to see Quinn walking down the dusty street and exchanging a few words with whom Rachel expected to be her jailer before continuing on her way. The guard folded his arms and stared off into the distance, his long, jet-black hair softly blowing in the breeze that made Rachel's body break out in shivers.

Slowly Rachel went back to her bed and got bundled under the covers.

She went three whole days without eating and sleeping.

On the fourth day, that changed.

Rachel was disoriented and blinked rapidly away from the glare of the moonlight pouring into the bedroom despite it being so faint. She could hear laughter and chatter, but it sounded so very far away.

Beside her on the bedside table lay the remnants from the uneaten meals of the last few days and the smell was making Rachel nauseated. She couldn't remember seeing Quinn much, but she felt her presence. The guard was always just outside which told Rachel that he was a man, not a vampire like she had previously assumed.

This new information gave Rachel pause. Perhaps she could make a run for it if her guard was only a man. But once the thought filtered and sunk in, Rachel knew it was no use: she was weak from hunger and exhaustion, therefore not up for running for her life. Unless...

Rachel was small, tiny even. If she were to sneak her way out, hide in the shadows, crawl her way-

"You look beautiful when you are thinking so very hard."

Rachel jerked in her bed and sat up straighter, angry at herself once again for letting Quinn get the jump on her.

Quinn's smile only widened as she peeled herself off the wall and moved deeper into the room.

"You look a fright," she said, eyes racing over Rachel. "And I can hear your stomach growling, even from down the street." Quinn then nodded, still smiling, seemingly pleased with Rachel's willpower, but then she frowned darkly. "How long can humans go without eating?" Quinn went quiet as she thought, her ears straining hard to count the beats of Rachel's heart. "Well, this will not do. You must eat whether you want to or not!" Quinn went to leave, but at the sound of Rachel clearing her dry throat she stopped. "Did you wish to say something?" she asked, eyes narrowed keenly.

"I will not," Rachel rasped. It seemed to Quinn that it took most of Rachel's remaining energy to speak the words.

Quinn blanched and frowned harder still. "This is no longer amusing, Rachel. You cannot very well die just to spite me. And you can hardly go on stage in that state!"

Rachel began weakly shaking her head, too tired to voice her fight, but then suddenly stopped when Quinn's words caught up with her. "Stage?"

Smiling brightly, Quinn moved closer and took a seat on the bed, pleased when Rachel didn't scurry away. "Yes, Rachel. The stage! You have less than a week's time to prepare, and it will not do if you are falling over from hunger. So I suggest we start fattening you up some, perhaps brush that rat's nest living on your head, and put some color into your cheeks for you will not be playing the part of a corpse."

Again Rachel shook her head, unsure of what she was hearing. "I want nothing from you," she whispered weakly.

Quinn frowned, beyond frustrated. "This is downright silly. Even for a human. You want the stage, I am giving you the stage!"

"You are a monster!"

Quinn's mouth dropped open in offense. "Take that back right now, Rachel Berry! I have been nothing but sweet to you and this is how you repay me? Do you know how long I have gone without feeding? Me? Without consuming a plump baby or an overzealous bar-goer?! I have broken every single rule I have learned, turned my back on my family, and watched the same idiotic show over and over again just to get in your good graces, all while spending my time on a plague-infested island that knows so little about anything interesting!" Quinn forced herself to calm as she saw the fear overwhelm Rachel. "Just eat your food and practice your lines." Quinn got off the bed and headed for the door, fully intending on performing a vicious kill to let off some steam.

"I will not!" Rachel exclaimed, slapping the bed with her palms. "Because of you I have lost everything! I would rather die then do as you wish!"

Quinn whipped around, her light hazel eyes wide in frustration. "Because of me you will have everything! You no longer have to deal with those insipid parents of yours or marry that foul boy or work yourself to the bone with nothing to show for it or-"

Realization doused Rachel and her eyes widened. "You killed Jesse!" she said, shocked, her finger pointing in accusation.

Quinn placed her hands on her hips and stared down at Rachel through narrowed eyes. "He was not worthy of you."

Rachel scrambled to her knees to gain some height and glowered at Quinn. "You just think you are so important, do you not? The mighty Quinn Fabray—if that is indeed your name—going around and deciding for me what is best. My parents were not great people, that may be true, but they gave me a home and a job and hopes for the future! And Jesse may not have been the love of my life, but none of them deserved to die merely because you thought it so! How dare you ruin my life for your own selfish desires!"

Quinn slowly smiled as she stared at Rachel. The girl had a light around her, one she never had seen before. A passion and drive that made Quinn feel warm. "There you are," she whispered, seemingly to herself. "I thought I saw you in there, and here you are," the woman your parents never wanted you to become: strong, fierce, independent...

Rachel was puzzled by Quinn's response, but dashed it away as she shakily got to her feet. "I will no longer allow you to decide for me. You are just as bad as my parents; thinking you know what is right, dismissing my own thoughts and feelings!"

That actually stung Quinn, and she said as much.

"Well I do not give a rat's bottom what you think!" Rachel said, advancing on Quinn and jabbing her in the chest with her finger. "You will allow me to leave here at once. You will forget all about me. And, if you are not too daft to remember, you will meet the end of something wooden until you are nothing but dust in the wind!"

Looking none too pleased, Quinn slowly removed Rachel's finger from her chest and slouched down a bit to be at eye level. "Is that what you believe of me?"

Rachel fixed her features to look upon Quinn as though she was staring at the monster Quinn truly was. "Worse. You killed Jesse. You left my parents for dead. Who knows how many countless people you have killed. Why would I ever allow myself to be in league with the likes of you!" she spit out. She was all out of energy now. She felt dizzy and like she was going to faint at any turn.

Quinn watched Rachel carefully before straightening. "Fine."

Rachel's eyebrows furrowed and she shook away the spins carefully. "Fine?"

"Yes, fine," Quinn said softly. "I will make you a deal." At Rachel's confusion Quinn continued. "You may have your job and eat the food I provide for you as we live here. You will earn a wage through your work and will save. Once you are pleased with your savings you may leave me."

Rachel's confusion only grew. "And how do you benefit?" she asked cautiously.

Shrugging as though she had no care in the world Quinn tried to hide her smile. "You will fall for me again, Rachel. You will see that I am destined to remain by your side. Within a month's time, I predict that you will give in to me. If, however, that is not the case, you are welcomed to leave."

It all felt wrong to her, Quinn just letting her go. She wouldn't fall for it, any of it. "You killed my parents!"

"The General killed your parents," Quinn said loftily with a flick of her wrist.

"You left them for dead!" Quinn only shrugged. "Would you have killed them if she had not?" At this, Quinn smirked. "You are a monster," Rachel repeated, staring at Quinn as though she were seeing her for the first time.

"Would you stop saying that! I am a vampire. I have no soul. And compared to others, I am downright fluffy by their standards!" Quinn gave that a thought. "Okay, I am fluffy with you, at any rate. But that is because I know you deserve more than what your parents were giving to you. You are destined to be a star! You should be on the stage, singing to hundreds, not shuttled backstage while the likes of Jesse St. James steal your spotlight!"

"It matters not!" Rachel raged thunderously, stomping her foot. "There should be a name for this horrid treatment. You are pleased as punch right now, thinking you brought the better out of me, watching me stand up for myself! Well I will have you know, vampire, that I had plans of my own!"

"Is that so?" Quinn asked doubtfully, nonetheless wary of what Rachel was saying.

"Yes! I had plans to daydream and read. To sing in my bath as I stared at the stars! I was going to play the greatest role ever written as I slept. And fall in love a hundred times in books and plays that I consumed." Quinn's eyes narrowed as she listened, unsure where Rachel was going with her bleak tale. "I was going to do whatever I wanted, however I wanted, the way I wanted! And you took that all away with the pretense of saving me. Well I do not remember asking to be saved!"

"You cried to me, begging for an out of your arranged marriage!" Quinn yelled back.

"And so I did, and I could have cried a hundred times more!" Rachel screamed as her bottom lip quivered and tears welled. "But taking me away from the only home I have ever known, leaving my parents for dead, killing Jesse, and thinking you know better was not the help I sought! You hurt people! You feed off of them and you plan to do it again!"

"And?" Quinn asked, unsure of the problem.

"You will not kill. You will not hurt. You will do nothing I would disapprove of as long as I am here."

Quinn's eyebrows knitted as she worked that one out. "Wait. What?"

"You think you are better than others. Better than my parents and Jesse? Then prove it," Rachel said, nodding in determination.

"No," Quinn scoffed. "The only reason I have not fed is because I am saving myself for you."

"How very sweet," Rachel glowered. "If you are so sure that I will fall for you again, then you must also know that the only way I would do so if you were pure of heart until that time."

Quinn's hazel eyes swept the room in mystification. "That makes no bloody sense!"

Rachel slapped Quinn across the face and folded her arms as she stared up at the shocked vampire. "You will watch your filthy mouth."

Quinn's expression hardened. "This. Is. Ridiculous."

"Be that as it may, you will follow my orders."

"You see fit to take away my nature just to please you?" Quinn asked, still bemused and beyond irritated.

Rachel fitted her hands to her hips and nodded. "I do."

Quinn thought everything over. She already wasn't eating, so to continue on with that plan would be easy as long as it meant she would be with Rachel in the end. Not harming anyone would only get simpler the weaker she'd get from not eating. Rachel had already admitted that she once felt strongly for Quinn, so to make it happen once again, as long as she followed Rachel's rules, was almost easy.

Slowly, Quinn nodded her accord. "All right, yes. I agree."

Rachel blanched, thoroughly shocked it had worked. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I see no harm taking some time off if it means I win you as a prize."

Horrified, Rachel once again advanced closer to Quinn. "A prize?! You see me as but a prize?! How dare you!"

Quinn easily batted Rachel's hand away before it made contact with her cheek again. She looked bored as she stared down at the girl, but a fond smile slowly spread. "Yes, Rachel. You are quite the prize. Your face is pleasing, that is true, beyond the fairest I have ever seen. Your body, while small, makes everything blind radiate with a hissing hum." Rachel's eyes narrowed as she folded her arms, squirming slightly at Quinn's words. "Your voice, my goodness, turns everything within me into earthquakes and plums, ripening quite deliciously until I pluck each one and trill my lust in reply. You are the grandest prize I have ever quested, and I look forward to questing you when the ever-present mood strikes."

Rachel found herself out of words and too weak to hurriedly think of a rancorous response. So instead, she merely adverted her eyes and walked back to her bed to bury herself within. "Please remove these foul plates and bring me something fresh to eat," she said, unable to bring herself to look at Quinn.

Quinn smiled as she bowed her head. "As you wish," and quickly gathered the plates and left the room, ready to start her appeal with the young Rachel Berry. She couldn't say that she minded Rachel's new resistance. It would make it all the more fun. Quinn had acquired easy before. She had made easy into something new; her past transgressions had been effortlessly attainable. The fight in Rachel brought the hunter out of Quinn, and if she was unable to feed or harm anyone this hunt would have to become what her instincts craved. Luckily, her eros was howling for Rachel as death hounded the brave.

X

Rachel's shows were once again a hit. People stuffed themselves into the small playhouse to watch a woman walk the stage, lulling them with her voice, and bewitching them with her easy charm.

Weeks passed and a new show came. A quickly written script that Rachel did not quite like, but was eager to try her hand at something different. The crowd poured in and was enamored and hungry for more, never having before the chance to see a girl perform the parts she was always destined to play.

Her home life, however, was a messy affair.

The small house felt like a box to Rachel. She kept to her room and only ventured out when it was show time. Although, Rachel's solidarity was self-imposed. She wanted as little contact with Quinn as possible. Each night Rachel would receive a knock on her door indicating it was dinner time. And every morning when she awoke with the sun, Rachel would open that same door to have breakfast greet her. She'd refuse lunch, simply because she didn't want to take more from Quinn than she needed: a job, a home, and food was far enough.

In fact, the only times Rachel would even see Quinn would be at the playhouse. She'd be on stage in the middle of a line or a song and her eyes would suddenly catch Quinn's somewhere in the theater. It was almost a game of hide and seek. Where would Quinn be tonight? And, once Rachel would find her—her line or note in the song catching for a mere second in which only Quinn would notice—she'd studiously keep her eyes from seeking out that area of the theater. It never really occurred to Rachel that she was always looking for Quinn and was restless until she had found her.

The trouble began when the plague started to truly take hold of their small village. Fewer and fewer were venturing outside their homes in fear. No one knew how the plague was circulating and places like playhouses seemed to be more of a danger than a form of entertainment used to distract.

Rachel was irritable over the whole business. And then she was downright furious; they had to close the playhouse. Too many were falling ill. People were paranoid, with reason.

People weren't the only ones paranoid.

"We have to get you out of here now!"

Rachel's eyes flickered open, just barely aware that someone was in her room. She was half asleep but she could see the figure moving about her room, alight from the moon. "Quinn?" Rachel asked in soft confusion, pushing herself up to see better.

The woman who lived two houses down had died just as the sun had set. Quinn had listened to her moans and cries from the safe distance just inside her and Rachel's house, her mind whirling. Doctors were no longer called. The bell that rang through the square no longer meant dinner time or chimes from the chapel, but time to collect the dead. Bodies were starting to litter the street, turning into carcases, not people or family or loved ones. Everything felt like death to Quinn, and with the playhouse closed her internal clock started to ring piercingly to get Rachel out.

Even if Quinn hadn't made the deal with Rachel and was still hunting and eating, she wouldn't. What if she fed off an infected? What then? She could get Rachel sick. Rachel could die. Rachel could be next. The bell could ring for Rachel. Rachel. Rachel. Rachel!

Quinn had wasted not a single moment longer. She had taken off and hurriedly collected the few things she needed and then had quickly darted into Rachel's room to begin packing her things. She didn't care if she woke the girl, all that mattered was getting as far away from the sickness as she could.

She knew she'd run into town blockades, borders around villages that were meant to keep the plague and the infected away. Quinn would kill anyone who got near them.

But what if they were infected too?

What if Quinn touched someone who was infected? She could infect Rachel.

Quinn growled, aware that Rachel had just said something but ignored her. She packed only a few items before she realized that she would just get new things. They couldn't have anything slowing them down.

"We are leaving," Quinn stated again, moving towards where Rachel was huddled in her bed.

"Why? Where are we going?"

Quinn didn't bother answering; instead, she swept Rachel over her shoulder and made for the door. Just like she had brought Rachel into the town, they were leaving, Rachel punching and kicking as they went.

"You must understand," Quinn whispered irritably, "if you stay here, you will die. Too many are infected. It is no longer safe, Rachel."

Rachel stopped her attack as logic sunk in. Even if she were to scream at the top of her lungs—an impressive feat—no one would come out of their homes, too afraid. Even if they did come out to try and save her, she had no doubt that Quinn would kill them. So she let Quinn carry her out of town.

As Quinn ran, Rachel was lulled into a fitful sleep full of nightmares of vampires and dead, infected bodies assaulting her. When she awoke, she had no idea how far or long they had traveled, but it was still dark. She could hear voices talking quietly, and without being told, she knew that they were the boarder patrol.

"I am going to have to overpower them," Quinn whispered, slowing to a walk.

Rachel froze, understanding what she meant. "Quinn, you cannot hurt them!"

Quinn growled deep in her throat. "I must. They stand in our way!"

Rachel was panicked now. She didn't want anyone else hurt in her name. She didn't want to see any more dead bodies, Quinn's vampire face, blood...

"There must be another way," Rachel implored, tears already flowing because of the images, because of the whole situation. Her life had drastically changed over the last few weeks. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.

Only in the dark quiet of the night would Rachel admit to herself that her present was much better than her past. She could honestly admit that she did not miss her parents. That her life began the moment Quinn appeared. Of course, she would never tell the vampire as much, but there was a very large part of her heart that was glad. It was usually what kept her awake at night until the sun.

Quinn growled again, frustrated and at a loss. Rachel was infuriating. She couldn't kill or hurt anyone because of the girl any way Quinn considered it. Quinn turned on the spot and headed east, looking for anywhere they could spend the night. Besides, Quinn considered, she wasn't entirely sure she could overpower the group of men. Rachel felt like dead weight in Quinn's exhausted arms. She had gone far too long without feeding...

She was sure there must be a home that was abandoned. She would be able to enter without an invitation if that were the case. If the inhabitants were dead, however, they'd have to look elsewhere: Quinn couldn't risk Rachel catching anything if the disease still lingered in the house.

As it was the stench of death was still heavy in the air and seemed to follow them. Whichever direction Quinn turned it was all she smelled.

She could sense dawn coming as Rachel slept against her back. It made Quinn run harder despite the fact that she was sure it would cause Rachel to wake.

When Rachel's eyes finally flickered opened and focused, she immediately sensed that she was being watched. For a moment, she was fearful, but then she remembered all that had happened and she sat up on her elbows only to see Quinn seated by her, dark hazel eyes taking her in.

"You slept for a while," Quinn whispered. That was because Rachel no longer slept at nights, feeling too guilty for how happy she now was.

Rachel glanced away from the vampire to examine where they were. It was smaller than her old bedroom above the theater, and even smaller than the room she had slept in only hours before. "Where are we?" she asked anxiously, worried Quinn had killed to acquire the accommodations.

Quinn only shrugged in reply. "It is only a shack. Off the property of a small cottage. We should be safe here for the day," Quinn said, finally taking her eyes off of Rachel. "We shall be safe," she nodded, trying to convince Rachel as much as herself. She could hear Rachel's heart pounding, and worried that if she took her eyes off the girl she would run the first chance she got. And although the stench of death wasn't as strong here, Quinn could catch a hint of sickness on the wind. If Rachel left, she would die.

"What shall we do?" Rachel whispered, hungry, tired, and so very afraid.

Quinn blinked harshly against her exhaustion. Not eating, traveling so far...it had all taken its toll. For the first time in a very long time, Quinn remembered what fear felt like.

"I know not," she mumbled back, her lips white and dry.

Rachel looked up at the vampire and her eyes creased with worry. "Could we stay here for long?"

Silence stretched as Quinn contemplated that. She wasn't sure if she could travel any longer. Or if there was anywhere to travel to. The sickness could be everywhere.

Rachel watched as Quinn's chin dropped a fraction. "Perhaps we must." Rachel saw the defeat in Quinn's eyes and, for the first time since meeting Sue, was genuinely afraid.

X

There were several times over the course of the following days that both Quinn and Rachel chanced exiting the shack. The small stone cottage was visible through the trees that surrounded their new home, but Quinn hadn't seen any smoke billowing from its chimney since they had arrived, and the nights had been chilly.

Rachel's hunger almost match Quinn's own, and so Quinn finally reached the decision that she would have to venture to the cottage whether Rachel liked it or not. To avoid an argument Quinn waited until the girl was asleep and sneaked out of the shack early before the sun's rays started to tickle the horizon.

Quinn moved cat-like towards the cottage, her nostrils flaring in an attempt to smell the stench of death, but it never came; it was a forgotten smell, the memories of a dream, only floating on the slightest of breezes to disappear once again. Yes, death was close, but not here. With that as confirmation, Quinn took off to the house and kicked down the door with all the strength she had left within her. She entered easily, which told the vampire that the occupants were either dead and gone or had taken off, never to return. It mattered not to Quinn, and soon, she was carrying Rachel's sleeping, stirring body over the house's threshold to the nearest bed.

Once Rachel was snug beneath its covers, Quinn took off towards the kitchen to find something the girl could eat: bread, unspoiled cheeses, fruit almost too gone to save - and rushed back to the girl. She sat behind her to prop her up and forced Rachel with her hushed tones to eat, eat, eat what she could.

Almost an hour had passed. The fire in its place churning wisps of smoke as Rachel slept a little more contently than even hours before as the sun inched higher. It was only then that Quinn finally collapsed down in a chair in the room next to Rachel's.

It was maddening to Quinn, being so hungry and restless. She rocked in her chair as she tried to plan their next move. There was nowhere to go. Nothing to do. There wasn't enough food in the kitchen for another day, even if she rationed. She could hunt on the grounds for scraps to, perhaps, stretch their time there a tad longer. But what shall Quinn do?

Hunting for squirrels wouldn't do. Quinn had grown far too paranoid. The risk was too great to eat anything she didn't know for a fact was sickness free. Anything else was a great jeopardy to Rachel. Weak, Quinn stumbled from the chair and into Rachel's room. She crawled into the bed beside the girl and watched as her face twitched in her sleep.

She would just have to wait.

X

Quinn was awake before the men in the distance even crossed the small river and into the garden one hundred paces outside the cottage. Her deep snarl grew and climbed up her throat, waking Rachel instantly.

"Quinn! What is it?" Rachel asked, all traces of sleep now gone as she stared at the vampire. Quinn's gaze was fixed on the only window in the room, staring out into the night as though she saw things Rachel couldn't yet see.

"Men," Quinn growled. "Intruders." She listened hard as the men, six of them, spoke to one another. She could smell the sickness, but the odor of ill-will was stronger. They had seen the smoke from the chimney and had headed towards the cottage with the hopes of finding a place to stay and food to sustain them.

They were looters. Thieves. Disgusting men that would take one look at Rachel and want it all. Quinn stumbled a little on her way to the door, ready to fight and kill them but suddenly aware that she may not be able.

"Quinn!" Rachel said, her voice pitched with distress. She had never seen Quinn stumble before. Never saw her to be anything but graceful. And now, here she was, one arm wrapped around the vampire, holding her up. "What is the matter, what is wrong?" Rachel asked, pleading to understand why Quinn seemed moments away from collapsing.

On the wind, Rachel could hear the sound of the whispering men getting closer each moment she stood holding Quinn up. The panic had finally claimed Rachel, aware of what it could all mean if the men gained entry to the house and Quinn couldn't defend them.

"What is the matter with you?" Rachel asked again, anxious and terrified, just as much as she was for herself as she was for Quinn's sudden weakness.

Quinn didn't bother answering. She merely pushed Rachel away and got her bearings. The world felt far too bright considering the time, and she was aware that her face was damp as though she had been sweating. But how could that be?

Rachel listened hard to the sounds of the men making their way toward the cottage, fanning out to find its weak spots. The voices were louder now, and she could hear soft chuckling as though the men outside knew of the predicament raging in Rachel's head.

She observed Quinn trying to straighten. She suddenly seemed so gaunt to Rachel, paler than before, and her lips were a dried rosemary color that reminded Rachel of the plague victims.

"Quinn..." Rachel whispered, so afraid, "is it...do you have the sickness?"

Quinn tried and failed to even muster up a scoff at the idea ludicrous. "Vampires do not get sick," she supplied, resting her palm against the wall, staring out the doorway as though picturing her plan might actually make it happen. She hoped vampires couldn't get sick. But what if because she wasn't feeding, she somehow did catch the disease? What if it made her a carrier and Rachel was next? No, Quinn thought, shaking her head to clear the sudden horrifying thoughts. "Just..." hungry, Quinn thought, so hungry.

She could feel Rachel's pulse, map the blood rushing throughout her entire body. Could see it's progress as it pumped and pumped and pumped. Quinn's eyes fluttered closed as her fingernails scratched the walls, slicing through its surface as she tried to keep herself rooted on the spot.

She kept swallowing back the need. Forcing herself to remember that she didn't want Rachel like she had had all the others. It wouldn't be as satisfying. It wouldn't crush her ravenous craving if she merely fed. She wanted to devour. Consume.

"I need to feed," Quinn whispered, feeling trapped within her own desires.

Rachel's heart jumped and thumped and collided. Without trying, the image of her laying on top of the bed, bare, Quinn hovering above her, feeding, taking, ruining her in a way she suddenly was desperate to live, flashed through her mind. Quinn heard Rachel's erratic breaths and shook her head to dispel the girl's train of thought. "I will not. I'll..." Quinn swallowed down the knives. "I will not," she finished weakly.

Rachel realized that Quinn would likely feed off the men and pushed away the sudden rush of jealousy. She could only muster up a tiny nod that she understood Quinn did not mean she'd feed off of Rachel.

She couldn't know that Quinn rarely fed off men. That Quinn preferred to just slaughter what she called "the lesser race." The thought of going so long without feeding only to finally have someone so unworthy made Quinn's stomach revolt. Of having to get close enough to taste. But she was far too weak to defend Rachel. Perhaps they had been near the sickness but not infected themselves. Hopefully once Quinn got closer, she would take one of them by surprise and smell that he was actually healthy. She would feed and be able to fight off the others easily.

Quinn retracted her hand from the wall where she had dug her nails and fingers in, destroying the frame. She noticed the blood. It wasn't pouring out as though it were alive, but just sitting there, reminding her it was below the surface. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rachel watching her carefully, completely fearful and utterly helpless.

Slowly, so as not to startle the girl, Quinn raised her hand to her lips and licked away the blood that sat there like an unfriendly reminder. There was no taste, no shock of fulfillment. It was as though she fed off of air. And all at once, Quinn remembered that she had never been the person she had hoped she'd be.

Standing carefully, Quinn righted herself. "I will get one alone and feed, if healthy. It will give me strength to finish off the others." She glanced over her shoulder to find Rachel's wide-eyed gaze. "Do not come out. Do not make a sound. No matter what you hear stay hidden inside this room until I tell you otherwise."

Rachel nodded and watched as Quinn made the long trek towards the front door, hunched over as she crept, trying to keep out of sight.

She was worried. She felt sick of the thought, but Rachel knew she was worried about Quinn as much as she was for herself. What if Quinn got hurt? It struck Rachel that she was also concerned for the way Quinn's unlife would end. She was a powerful beast that deserved to die at the hands of someone meriting, not in the dark by thieves of men. She should die in a blaze of glory.

Rachel wondered why she thought that way. Why she was so worried for a thing that had done nothing but ruin and destroy. She wanted to destroy Quinn. And yet she wanted Quinn to be the one that destroyed her.

Rachel fell back onto the bed, dizzy with the idea of what was appearing in her thoughts. Clearly she had developed some kind of illness. Maybe Quinn wasn't sick but infected Rachel nonetheless. Carrying the disease like the peasants in the alleyways and tainting all those around. Rachel had fallen victim to Quinn's sickness. And Rachel wanted the infection to spread.

"Drink me."

It had only been whispered, but the force of the statement made Quinn's insides freeze and she nearly toppled over at the suggestion. Again, Quinn found herself digging her nails into sanctuary. Clawing at the wooded floor to keep from running into Rachel's blood stream.

Quinn pictured herself snapping around, finding strength she did not feel and screaming at Rachel not to say such things - to not tempt her. She imagined pouncing on the girl, ripping her dresses open and feeding off every inch of skin that had bewitched her so thoroughly.

Thousands of knives stabbed at Quinn's throat at the thought of drinking from Rachel. She would make the girl feel things, everything, everything Rachel made her feel. But none of this was worthy of Rachel. Quinn couldn't merely put her lips to Rachel's skin and swallow from her for nothing but a skin-deep consummation only to turn her away and leave her cold and searching.

Without response, Quinn dragged herself off the floor and slipped through to the outside world where Rachel's entirety wasn't haunting her. It may have been warm outside, but all Quinn could feel was bone-deep cold. She took a moment to calm herself, to forget what she heard, before she was inhaling softly to follow the scent of the man most afraid. She wouldn't feed off any of them. She was weak, but the taste of her unrealized quench drove her forward, making her eyes flash yellow as her fangs sprung forth and hatred capturing her for being interrupted from the one thing she had wanted in over two centuries.

Tears were welling in Rachel's eyes without a discernible reason. She felt rejected and ignored, relieved and afraid, concerned for herself, Quinn, the men, her family, her old home, dreams, hopes, everything. And empty. She felt mostly empty.

She found herself longing for the days of curling up in bed with Quinn, reading, talking, not worrying about performing or death or anything but Quinn's smile. That toothy smile that was more animal-like than human, but just as predatory and fascinating.

How disconcerting to Rachel to realize that she wanted it all. And not only that, she was now welcoming it. "I am ill," Rachel mumbled, staring down at her shaking hands. She remembered a foreboding building she and her parents once passed on their outing into the city, the one that housed those sick people who screamed in their wakeful days, who saw what others couldn't, who spoke to no one at all. That was what Rachel had become: mentally unhinged.

There was no one to care for her, to lock her away, to send volts into her body to cure her madness. The only thing she had left was a monster with a face of an angel. And Rachel wanted to give in now. To stop fighting. Or maybe to fight for something different.

She'd give in to the madness. And she would like it.

It hadn't taken Quinn long despite her weariness. The first man had taken one look at the beast in petticoats and all but fell to his knees in awe. She had snapped his neck silently and was moving on to the second man even before the first hit the ground.

They were clumsy and big-boned. Starving themselves and too hungry with greed to wonder why a gorgeous creature had come out to greet them.

Blood crawled up Quinn's arms as she stood over their lifeless bodies beneath the full moon. Towns away, Quinn could hear a werewolf feasting and could just make out the scent of the carnage. The empty bodies underneath her feet, the smell of the dog's kill, it all paled in comparison to Rachel.

Quinn turned her back on it all and stumbled into the house, decorated with her kills. Without thought, she stripped herself of her clothes and made her way to Rachel's bedside. She ignored the stunned girl and slipped beneath the covers, shaking with her paralysis and unaware that she had blood on her hands or arms that was staining the sheets.

Without asking, Quinn caught Rachel's wrist and pulled her close, letting Rachel's stiff body rest beside her own. Hours it seemed later, Rachel finally let her body loosen but not relax. With slow halted movements she eventually found herself under the thin blanket, beside Quinn's cold, pale body, aware that the vampire's mouth was resting against her vulnerable and exposed neck.

Rachel's ragged breathing echoed around the room, so still, like Quinn, until she carefully tilted her head to expose more of herself to Quinn in a silent allowance or request.

Quinn's eyes lidded in arousal, watching the veins flow, ebbing with each swallow Rachel allowed. She shifted even closer, letting her body slide against Rachel's without a thought but finally feeling something.

"If we are to make it," Rachel whispered, oh so quietly, "you will need to have your strength," she said, trying to reason with her lie.

Quinn's lips were brushing Rachel's neck softly, her eyes lightly closed as she tried to memorize this moment: never in her entire existence had something felt so important. "I want to feel you, Rachel," she mumbled, getting lost.

"Will it hurt?" Rachel asked, filling the space, her voice laced with wonder.

Quinn's eyes roamed over Rachel's skin as she examined the question. Did Rachel want it to? Was she afraid?

Instead of answering, Quinn softly shook her head, deciding that she didn't want to hurt Rachel. This time. This time would be just a taste. A teaser to what it could be. She'd take this time to gain strength, to whet both their appetites.

She pressed her nose to Rachel's skin and inhaled, tracing a path up and down the pulsing vein while Rachel shuddered. Quinn let her lips skim, skating as she felt the skin pimple and greet her. Slowly, she opened her mouth to taste, enjoying the sensations her body was suddenly exploring.

"Just a taste," Quinn reminded herself, forcing calm and only thinking about what she knew she needed. To stay thriving for another day, to be able to take care of Rachel for as long as she could.

As Quinn's mouth kissed and sucked on the skin, she slid her hand up Rachel's shaking arm to her neck. Without missing a beat, a sharp fingernail slowly parted Rachel's unmarred skin, exposing a thin line of red.

Quinn's nostrils flared, her body seeming to come alive. She teased herself, kissing around the blood, until she could hold out no more and carefully skimmed Rachel's neck with the tip of her tongue, finally finding her gift.

It was a sensation like no other. Everything exploded within Quinn at that perfect first taste. She was unaware that Rachel was still waiting for the pain, clueless that she was already bleeding. All she felt was the power and arousal that she was the one Quinn chose. She was the one that was giving Quinn strength and power and life. Her parents had been wrong: she was special. She had Quinn begging for her.

And Quinn was. She was now whatever Rachel wanted her to be. Her long tongue licked back and forth over the two inches of skin, back and forth despite the fact that no new blood had risen. It mattered not to Quinn. Her whole body felt heavy from the weight of that one all-too brief flirt. She felt drugged and dazed as her tongue swiped and licked. She had no recollection of dragging herself on top of Rachel's body. Rachel, who was so very still while her body betrayed her. Her thumping heart and shaking limbs, body so full and taut with arousal, she felt almost desperate enough to beg.

She didn't have to know the words or the directions, her body was whispering to her to speak them all. Made up words that Quinn would understand as plainly as if she had read them from Memories of a Woman of Pleasure.

Rachel found herself gulping in air, silently willing herself not to drink from the desperation within her. She would just stay still and quiet and let Quinn voice Rachel's own desires. If Quinn were to undress her, Rachel would allow it. And if Quinn wanted to claim Rachel's body further, Rachel would let her eyes flutter closed and give in to the cries that her body sobbed.

There were no other choices to make or fights to be fought. Whatever was happening, whether it be madness or the fates or just some bewitching curse Quinn had bequest upon her, Rachel no longer cared: the only thing that truly mattered to Rachel was Quinn, and if she had taken a moment to actually consider that thought, she would realize that it was very true. Nothing else had ever mattered to Rachel besides singing, and the idea of performing without Quinn there to hear seemed rather pointless.

Rachel was special. She had known it since she was little but had learned to keep it quiet. The only other being that ever saw it inside of her was Quinn. And now Rachel would spend the rest of her life letting Quinn see it all.

But, to Rachel's surprise and dismay, Quinn rolled off of Rachel, beside her, heaving as she stared up at the ceiling. Rachel turned her head and took in the light and glowing eyes of the vampire. She allowed her gaze to drift down Quinn's naked body and found herself more than inspired by the sight.

She brought her hand to her neck and felt the heat, could feel the wetness from Quinn's lips and mouth and tongue, but felt nothing more. Rachel wasn't sure if Quinn had fed, but the vampire's lips were a deeper pink than they had been, and her skin appeared more chalk-white than gray.

Rachel watched as Quinn's eyes slammed shut and her hands fisted at air, pulling the pale skin over the bones of her knuckles once then twice, and finally flexing as her legs twisted in a battle with nothing.

It was then that Rachel took notice of the blood on Quinn's hands and arms, only then. It looked like dried mud and she caught herself at that moment, surprised and confused over the idea that it made Quinn more beautiful. Natural even.

Just when Rachel gathered the courage to ask if she had done something wrong, if perhaps her blood wasn't desirable to Quinn, the vampire's eyes snapped open and focused on her. "We will leave here tomorrow night. We will travel far."

With that, Quinn slid off the bed and out of the room, no further explanation as to what had just transpired. Rachel felt her body ache and squirm. Itching to follow to find out why she couldn't know more. She was suddenly angry. If Quinn had fed off of her, shouldn't she be thanking Rachel for saving her life? If she had not, didn't she owe Rachel an explanation as to why she was putting her life and Rachel's in jeopardy by not doing what she had to do in an effort to keep Rachel safe?

With that thought, a focal point for her anger, Rachel followed after Quinn only to find the front door open. Cautiously, Rachel went outside to find Quinn, still naked, stacking the bodies of the six dead men under the grand tree right outside the small cottage.

The men were all so big, Rachel noticed, and the small slice in her neck pulsed and thumped as she watched Quinn dispose of their huge bodies effortlessly, her pale skin glowing under the full moon that beamed through the tree's limbs. Rachel was stricken with pride in that moment. Something she had only a handful of times felt, on the stage, her times with Quinn, but now, it was only pride for the strength of the vampire. She had protected Rachel when she herself had been so weak.

With sick fascination, Rachel neared, her head cocked, as she examined the lifeless bodies. "But...you had been...how were you able to do this?" Rachel asked in wonder.

Quinn had heard her coming the moment Rachel stepped off the bed and padded through the cottage. Had felt the girl's eyes on her while she had worked. Felt the opened wound beg her to return. She now could feel Rachel pressed up against her back, looking down at the men not in disgust, but enthrallment.

Rachel gasped as she felt herself being lifted and pinned to the tree, her legs dangling as Quinn pushed her firmer against the coarse bark. Her teeth, pointed and bone-white as she stared only at Rachel's neck. With one hand, Quinn held Rachel to the tree, with the other, she pinched the skin around the cut until a bead of blood slipped out drowsily.

She let it slide down Rachel's neck and onto her waiting thumb before she brought it to her mouth where she sucked it clean, letting Rachel witness the act. Somehow-and Rachel was now certain she had caught a mental fit-it was the most sensual thing she had ever witnessed in her short life.

Carefully, Quinn let Rachel's body slide down the tree until the girl was on her feet and had to arch her neck to look up at Quinn. She could hear Rachel's heart thumping, could smell her arousal so strongly it almost overpowered the open cut on her neck. They locked eyes as Quinn sucked the very last of Rachel's blood from her finger, and slowly bent down until her lips were astride the wound.

"God, Rachel..."

This time, Rachel felt the blood leave her, felt as Quinn softly sucked. She felt that and so much more.

She couldn't even find words to fit the experience. Her dark eyes just stared up at the moon peeking between the leaves of the tree, allowing her body to give itself over to Quinn. Continued to feel the power Quinn was giving her: she was all Quinn had, all Quinn wanted.

This gorgeous, powerful immortal, naked and simmering, was begging to be one with her. With Rachel. She wanted Rachel. Thought she was special and precious and important. Thought she was enough. Was worthy.

Rachel's moan was deep and guttural. She felt as though Quinn were touching her everywhere. She knew that that wasn't the case. Knew Quinn's one hand was softly cupping her neck while the other gripped at Rachel's waist. But still, the intense sensation that Quinn was caressing her wet center, hardened nipples, and somewhere deep within, somewhere Rachel couldn't even pinpoint, made her moans double until they resembled a song.

There, beneath the full moon in a cottage belonging to no one, Rachel Berry lived fully for the first time.

---

Lima, Ohio: Present Day

Taking a step forward away from the other three vampires, Rachel beamed down at the five kids. "It was very important that throughout history no one knew me. This way I could continue performing for the masses of adoring fans that have, and always will, worship me." Santana rolled her eyes.

"Huh?" Mercedes so succinctly answered.

"Before Quinn turned me, my parents owned a play house. When I met Quinn, it was frowned upon for women to perform. She saw to it that my parents changed that. I was able to perform, and go on to become quite famous in my town, and eventually, parts of London. Then Paris and beyond. Well, I didn't want that fame to go just because I became the undead. So I kept a low profile. When I changed Brittany and her little sister-"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up. You changed Brittany? I thought that was Quinn!"

Rachel smiled patiently. "And that's exactly what we wanted history to think, slayer. I have faked my death many times throughout the centuries in order to keep up appearances. And once I changed Brittany, and Brittany changed Santana, my three loves made it a point to…how should I say this…stand out so that history thought there were only three infamous vampires, not four."

"It was super fun standing out," Brittany smiled, getting the rest of the vampires to smirk.

"Quinn, Brittany, and I would go out and cause as much gruesome mayhem as we could manage. We'd always leave one witness to go on and tell our tale," Santana continued with a twisted smile.

"That way, my love-" Santana cut herself off looking suddenly embarrassed. "That way Rachel was free to go on performing throughout time." Quinn and Brittany shared smirks while Rachel rolled her eyes with a small smile.

"Immunda Crux Crucis was the perfect name to perpetuate our cover story," Rachel continued. "Next, we commissioned an artist-"

"Threatened an artist is more like it," Santana chuckled, getting Brittany and Quinn to join in smugly.

"Yes, well," Rachel shrugged airily, "it wasn't our fault that each artist had to put in his two cents."

"I think it is kind of your fault that Van Gogh went completely batshit," Santana supplied.

"Yeah, Rach," Quinn smiled. "If we never went to that brothel, he never would have gone crazy and skipped town."

"Do you have any idea how annoying it was traipsing after the dude? We had to go to France," Santana stressed in disgust to the kids.

"Well Brittany was the one who wanted him!" Rachel defended quickly. "I wanted to go right to Renoir, but noooo. She was the one who wanted a Dutchman."

"He was funny," Brittany defended with a shrug.

Rachel thought for a moment. "And I happen to adore France," she mumbled with a pout up at Quinn, getting Quinn to rub her shoulder and smile back lovingly.

"We go to this brothel he always liked," Santana went on, addressing the kids as though she was telling an exciting story they were dying to hear, "and he was so excited that four different chicks wanted to bang his ass. Then, Rachel has to freaking nibble off bits of his ear to 'persuade' him to paint us!" she complained.

"I particularly loved the Reign of Terror for its pure entertainment value," Rachel mumbled, still thinking about France, before she caught up to Santana's words. "Hey!" she said, clearly affronted. "It wasn't my fault it happened that way! I wanted to use his boyfriend as incentive, but you let him get away, Santana!"

"Please, I turned my back for one second-"

"Yeah, whatever," Rachel dismissed peevishly. "Because of you I was in the history books!" she said indignantly.

"You're barely mentioned!" Santana countered. "'A prostitute by the name of Rachel,' hardly qualifies as being in the history books!"

"Really you were just cleaning up that mess I made with that prostitute," Brittany reasoned.

"Whatever," Quinn stepped in. "The point is, he got away, he would tell anyone who listened about four beautiful vampires and got himself committed. Then he died and we went with Renoir. It all worked out," she finished with a shrug.

"Well," Brittany muttered, "except for Van Gogh it all worked out. We made his death look like a suicide."

"Regardless," Rachel continued, patting down her outfit, "my two loves and Santana were able to become infamous, and I got to continue performing throughout history." Santana glowered.

Sensing the tension, Mike picked up Mercedes' mantel, knowing what his friend was up to. "There seems to be a lot of anger between you and Rachel, Santana, care to air out your grievances?"

Rachel rolled her eyes while Santana took a step forward. "Yes, as a matter of fact I would. Thank you, Dinner," she said, nodding to the boy.

"Dinner?" Artie mouthed to a paling Mike.

Rachel folded her arms across her chest as her hip jutted out, awaiting Santana's whining. "For a freaking century and a half I've had to deal with your attitude, and I'm sick of it. What the hell did I do wrong? I've been nothing but sweet as fucking pie to you, proving myself over and over again, and you still treat me like I'm special needs. No offense, Power Wheels," she directed over her shoulder to Artie. The boy merely cowered.

"You two see what they're doing, right? Quinn asked dryly. "You understand they're purposefully trying to keep you distracted, yes?"

Neither Santana nor Rachel were listening. Quinn threw up her hands as the two vampires squared off once again.

"We were just fine without you, Santana. We didn't need your particular brand of fucking up or your loud-ass mouth. Time and time again you've only managed to prove that very fact."

Santana looked thoroughly offended, a hand slapping to where her silent heart sat. "If I had a soul, Rachel, you would have just crushed it!"

"And if I had a boulder, Santana," Rachel offered, stepping even closer to her rival, "I would crush you. We all have disappointments in life," she finished with an uncaring shrug.

Brittany took a side step closer to Quinn. "This reminds me of Tanzania, 1904," she mumbled almost breathlessly.

Quinn's eyebrow quirked as her lips parted into a sensual smirk. "The early twentieth century...what a time..."

In Tanzania, Quinn and Brittany were sick of hearing Rachel and Santana bickering, so they decided to go out and watch what fun the Germans were up to. They had only been gone a few hours, but when they had arrived back to their gorgeous mansion, nearly four rooms had been completely destroyed, the roof caving in in several spots, and a very naked Rachel and Santana, covered in cuts and bruises, passionately fucking on the dining room table.

Watching the pair fuck with so much brutal intent never got old for Brittany and Quinn. They watched for as long as they could stand it until they finally had to join in with their lovers. It would start with Brittany and Quinn fucking one another until Rachel and Santana couldn't keep their eyes off the pair. Then it was Rachel and Quinn fucking beside Santana and Brittany. Then Brittany and Rachel next to Quinn and Santana. Then a mass of tongues and fingers and pussies and come.

Back in the present day, all four vampires sighed as their minds wandered to happier times. The kids could only stare on, completely grossed out: it was almost like magic as each vampire's cold, white hand reached out to touch a part of each other as they remembered better days.

Quinn was the first to recover, and only because she wanted this all to be done so they could start reliving the past. She cleared her throat loudly and removed her hand from Rachel's breast. "Yes, well...we have a spell to perform and a war to win."

Rachel was the next to snap out of it, and only because Quinn's hand was no longer doing that thing it did so well. She removed her own hand from Brittany's inner thigh and clapped her hands loudly. "Places, everyone! Places!" Santana grumbled to herself but stopped squeezing Quinn's ass to go to the corner of the room to grab their supplies.

Brittany frowned as, in result to Santana's action, she was no longer making her way under Santana's Cheerios' skirt. She wasn't very happy that all the fun had suddenly stopped. But she listened to her mommy and and headed towards Tina, still pouting.

At once, all the kids started to huddle closer to the witch. Brittany smiled at their actions and paused in front of them. "Let's play a fun game," she began, beaming down at them. "The game is only fun for me, but I think by the end you'll all agree it's a super important game." The kids exchanged sickened looks. "That game is called 'Whoever Gets in My Way Dies Instantly.' I just came up with it!" Brittany smiled brightly, looking down at the four kids expectantly.

"We're not letting you take her," Mercedes gritted, ready to do what she needed to.

Brittany only smiled wider. "So we can play my game?!"

Tina was the only one to answer. She slowly got to her feet, hardly shaking anymore, and looked back at her friends. "It will be okay, guys. I have to do this."

Now Brittany frowned. "That kind of feels like cheating because now I can't win my game."

"We'll play later, B," Santana said, bag of magic supplies in hand as she nuzzled up to her girlfriend. "We can play all night," she smirked down at the slayer.

Mercedes' jaw clenched as she stared right back, getting Santana to laugh loudly.

"I like this slayer," Brittany said as she guided Tina to the middle of the room of the basement, "she's not very smart at all!"

The three other vampires chuckled back, agreeing. "Have a seat, witch," Rachel instructed, not unkindly. Tina didn't really insight confidence within her, and she knew there was only one person that could cure Quinn. Tina was literally the only person who could perform this spell.

The clan that had cursed Quinn based their spells on bloodlines. Used their old magicks to ensure that they could never be reversed by outside forces. And since Santana, Rachel, and Brittany had brutally slaughtered the whole clan that had originally cursed Quinn, their options had become limited.

Hindsight really was twenty-twenty, Rachel thought with a shrug.

The day after Quinn had been cursed she had set off in search for any of the clan that may have left the small village. When Rachel awoke the next evening without Quinn beside her, she took off in another direction, her intent the same.

There had been living kin that had settled throughout the world, extending from that small village. But none had been practicing Wiccans. It was finally in Lima, Ohio, a year after Quinn had killed the young girl in the North Korea, that they had found a blood kin who not only had the power to use magicks, but was practicing; this would make casting the very intricate spell much simpler.

Rachel, Santana, and Brittany formed a tight circle around Quinn and Tina. They were all sitting as the kids watched on, breathless.

Tina looked so panicked Mike was scared she was just going to pass out. "I-I-I da-da-don't kno-kno-know..."

"Kna know... kna know... spit it out, Stutters!" Santana taunted as her patience wavered. The clock was ticking and they needed Quinn at full strength as soon as possible. It wasn't that the spell needed to be cast in order for Quinn to fight their war, it was just a pretty good gamble that the humans in the room would be collateral damage once the fighting started. Or that their plan to cure Quinn was underway; someone was bound to want to put a stop to that. Better to do the spell now then to find out the witch didn't make it later: it was a very good gamble that especially Tina wouldn't make it if it was known what the Unholy Trinity needed her.

Tina shut her eyes tightly and tried to recall what Ms. Pillsbury had taught her. She attempted to block out the knowledge that once her job was finished, she and her friends would most likely never leave the basement alive.

"It will help to think of your family," Brittany whispered softly to Tina.

Tina's eyes flew open as she looked at the vampire in fear. "What will you-"

"We're not going to hurt your family," Quinn began.

"Probably," Rachel considered slowly, her shrug a careless afterthought.

"Think of your parents, your grandparents. The retaliative you never even met!" Brittany continued with enthusiasm as Tina soaked in Brittany's stare. "Like, pretend they're all around you, cheering you on. Think of where you came from, where they came from, and make believe they're here, giving you their power."

Santana smiled softly at Brittany's words as she allowed her senses to expand to the property around them in wait. If their source was correct, and it always was, they had less than a half an hour until their time was up and the main event would arrive.

Tina still looked lost.

Huffing loudly, Santana leaned closer towards Tina. "Your lineage is of sacred power. It is one of the oldest and purest to reign." Tina's gaze turned to Santana's as though she truly wanted this pep talk, and not just needed it. "All you need to do is visualize your ancestors surrounding you, within you; use your line to fill and consume you until the power starts to brim."

Rachel hissed, "Focus fast, witch; you do not have much time and your friends have many breakable parts that we can enjoy."

Quinn tutted softly, getting Rachel to glance up at her lover. Their eyes connected and Rachel gave a small smile at the silent reprimand. It was hard to exercise patience when her own world hung in the balance: if Tina couldn't get the spell to work and correct what the clan had done to Quinn, Quinn would go on being broken, eating animals and butchers' scraps, and their family would remain as such.

Rachel couldn't imagine going back to how it had been over the past year. Being away from Brittany - and even Santana, Rachel thought grudgingly - had been bad enough. But not having Quinn at her side was so painful that it made everything less. It had been that way since she had first met Quinn. Just having Quinn in her life changed Rachel. However, if it hadn't been for that fateful night when Quinn had first tasted Rachel - had only a small sampling - events could have been much different. But after that intoxicating experience that left Quinn finally with strength and left Rachel dazed more from the slight blood loss, it had solidified their union. And the start of greatness…

---

Battle, East Sussex; England: 1666

The plan became clear once Quinn had finally fed. Drinking from Rachel - even the precious amount she had consumed - had made everything come into focus so resoundingly she was amazed it hadn't come to her sooner. She had only Rachel to blame, and how the girl made her blind with lust and love. London had become Quinn's world because it had been Rachel's world. Now that they were even further connected, everything had shifted until it was only them. Which meant Quinn could see outside dreary London to much greener, healthier, and more enticing pastures.

With Rachel's blood dancing underneath her pale skin, Quinn was able to make the long journey south with Rachel on her back. Quinn wanted to only spend a short time in Battle to rest up, to make sure Rachel could make the trip further south, and maybe even feed off of Rachel once again.

"But there are no playhouses here," Rachel pouted as Quinn moved them into their newest home. It was modest at best, only a three room shack. But it would do for a week's time. The trip south had only tired Rachel out, still human and weak from being fed off of not long ago.

Quinn smirked at Rachel, thoroughly in love with how narcissistic the girl was. "In time, my love. We shall leave here for Paris in a week, and there will be many theaters there for you to star."

Rachel beamed back, proud of the news. But soon, she was pursing her lips in thought. "But Quinn...France? I have never been aboard a ship before. Will it be a difficult journey like the last few days? I am unsure if I am up to traveling again so soon."

While the journey on boat would not be long, the thought of being around others, others that may hold the sickness, made Quinn blanch at the thought. No. They would rest. Quinn would wait until Rachel was fully healed. and then Quinn would feed again before the journey south.

And so what if a very large part of Quinn just wanted the exhausting trip as an excuse to feed from Rachel again. Rachel would be getting everything she had ever wanted soon enough. Why couldn't Quinn?

Quinn wasn't sure where Rachel had stood with being fed from again, so Quinn did everything in her power to ensure in the meantime that Rachel was taken care of properly. While the shack they were staying in wasn't large, Quinn adorned it with the finer things to improve morale. The fire was always burning, food was plentiful, and Rachel had several books to keep her occupied while she regained her strength.

A full week was passing in their stay when Rachel had turned to Quinn. Both were silently reading by the warmth of the fire and Rachel gazed up at Quinn from her chair with a furrowed brow, "What are you not telling me, Quinn?"

Quinn blinked back at the human for a moment before closing over her book. "We will be swimming south, not taking a boat," Quinn said into the quiet. "I worry about the sickness if we are aboard a ship with others."

The silence stretched until Rachel nodded and went back to her book. Quinn could read the subtle way Rachel's eyes had doubted Quinn's words. But the human left the lie where Quinn had placed it without question.

Days later, Rachel seemed fully healthy. Once again they would be saying goodbye to a home and neither planned to pack any of the items they had decorated their surroundings. Rachel was lying in the small bed they had shared, the fire stoked and glowing with warmth, and Quinn stood in the doorframe watching her.

"Can you swim?" The whispered question should have come over a week ago, but it didn't really matter then, nor did it matter so much now.

"The English Channel?" Rachel snorted as she gazed across the small distance to where Quinn stood. "Not well, to be sure."

Quinn gave a tiny, appeasing grin back and pushed off the wall to move closer to Rachel's side by the bed. "I will be doing most of the work, Rachel. You will only need to hold onto me tightly."

"Will the water be cold?"

Brows drawn, Quinn shrugged, "Nothing you are not used to."

"How long will it take?"

Quinn hummed in thought. "Less time if we had traveled further east. But I knew you needed to rest. Perhaps not long. Half a night?"

Rachel frowned. "Will that be challenging for you?"

Quinn considered how to answer as she took a delicate seat on the bed beside Rachel. "With how I am feeling now?" Quinn shrugged with an enigmatic grin. "I am sure I could make it."

Rachel was thoughtful as she mulled that over. Quinn could see Rachel was working hard to take her time with her response. "Would it help if…"

"If?" Quinn breathed back.

"Well…" Rachel drawled slowly, her heart starting to race as her pulse point thumped at Quinn. "If you...what I mean to say is...if you...were...stronger?"

They hadn't been intimate in any way since the cottage. It had made the air constantly thick between them, an unspoken secret they were both desperate to share.

Quinn hummed again and moved her body closer to Rachel's warmth under the covers, her pale thigh peeking out from her silk dressing gown to skim Rachel's own. The fabric of Rachel's bed clothes felt very thin, and where the hem ended on her tanned legs felt suddenly far too long, stopping just at the knee.

"I suppose…" Quinn began slowly, allowing Rachel to move or say something that would make it clear that this wasn't exactly what she wanted: Quinn in bed with her, their skin touching, talk of again Quinn feeding off of Rachel. "I wouldn't want to make you weak," Quinn finally finished. It was a truth. While the swim would be easy for Quinn, even if Rachel was no help, so many things could go wrong that would leave Rachel in a vulnerable position. If she was too weak…

"But you will keep me safe, Quinn, will you not?" The hope in Rachel's voice, the certainty that Quinn would be all the hero Rachel could need, made Quinn's pride swell and made the smirk crawl across her blood-red lips.

"You shall be safe with me, Rachel," Quinn nodded.

"And for me to be safe, Quinn, you need to feed." Rachel sat up slightly to toss her hair further over her shoulder, exposing her neck and the round of her shoulder to Quinn's sight. This side was still unmarred, Quinn having fed off the other. She felt herself clench at the thought of Rachel wanting Quinn to mark her everywhere.

Rachel wasn't sure when the change officially happened, but knew that it had been slow. The change in herself and the change in how she saw things...were so different now. Often times Rachel would have to think hard as to what was so wrong with Quinn, why she had thought her "evil." New Sarumfelt like someone else's life. Jesse, her parents, her family's playhouse were now all characters in a play she had once read and had no interest playing a bit role, never mind starring.

Quinn was all she could see. Quinn changed for Rachel. Quinn was working to make Rachel's dreams come true. Quinn was the most beautiful creature Rachel had ever laid eyes on. Rachel wanted this new life they had created so desperately. Why oh why had Rachel ever kept her distance from something as perfect as Quinn?

"Feed from me, Quinn. Feed from me and let me keep you strong," Rachel whispered, aware that she was not just offering her neck to Quinn.

Quinn's eyebrow rose at the offering, and then she was upon her with little thought, straddling Rachel's petite body and pulling her close. Closing her eyes, Quinn allowed her senses to soak Rachel in, dragging her nose up and down the human's neck as she caressed her back over the soft fabric of her nightdress.

"I'll make you stronger, Quinn," Rachel prayed breathlessly, her body wired for what was to come. "You need me,"

"I need you," Quinn repeated, her body softly undulated against Rachel. At Rachel's gasp, however, Quinn found herself rocking rhythmically. The responding groan and answering sway of Rachel's hips caused Quinn's fangs to spring forth. "Always needed you," she whispered, caressing Rachel's nightgown up the girl's long legs.

Rachel moaned louder as Quinn's hips ground firmer against her own, felt the pointed drag of Quinn's fangs at her neck. Then, cold fingers at the front of her nightdress, undoing the string there until it gapped just below her breasts. "Always?" Rachel asked softly.

"Hmmm," Quinn hummed back, "since the first time I heard you sing. I saw you and knew that I had to have you, needed something for the first time in my life and death. Needed you and wanted only you, Rachel."

And then Quinn's fangs were inside of her, then her tongue was lapping up blood. But Rachel could only feel that soft caress of Quinn's hands at her breasts, the feel of Quinn rocking against her, the nightgown ruched around her waist. Her arousal was no surprise; Quinn had almost always made Rachel feel arousal. It was the power that was new to Rachel. The pleasure of knowing that Rachel brought a vampire to her knees, just as she could bring an audience to their feet...Rachel quite liked her newfound power.

She found herself digging her fingers into Quinn's hips to quicken the vampire's pace, grinding her down firmer into Rachel's lap. Making the muscles in her neck taut and relishing in the sounds the friction and blood were causing Quinn to make. Blinding white lights bursts behind Rachel's eyes as she came for the very first time. She had only read of the phenomenon, but Quinn was proof that such pleasure could be acquired.

Quinn was still rocking and Quinn was still swallowing, and Rachel could still feel the pleasure crashing and crashing and climbing and climbing.

If this was what you would get with the likes of Quinn Fabray, Rachel suddenly wished she had burned New Sarum and all its residents to the ground years before…

---

Lima, Ohio: Present Day

Tina took a shuddering breath and tried with all her might to block out the crippling terror. Using Santana's advice, she pictured faceless people who felt like home to her. Her eyes slipped shut and she allowed her senses to absorb what was tangible; just as Ms. Pillsbury had taught her. She could smell the incense that had been lit, the herbs that had been ground and blended. She could feel the heat wafting off the Orb of Pyoulah as her hands surrounded it. And the juxtaposition of the freeze coming from each vampire at her side.

Mercedes and the boys knew the moment Tina tapped into something else. The very air seemed to run away in fear. The vampires shared smirks, and soon, Tina's voice spewed Korean in a raspy hiss.

"Does Tina even know Korean?" Sam asked fearfully. Both Mike and Mercedes slowly shook their heads, all four kids terrified at what they were witnessing. The orb glowed a murky black, but it was somehow too bright to look at. All around Quinn black oil seemed to drip and seep from the vampires finger nails, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Tina's chanting grew in volume and the foundation of the house began to rattle and shake. The vampires seemed unconcerned with the sudden powerful magicks Tina was displaying, and instead, appeared relaxed, eyes closed, as Quinn bled out crude darkness and was replenished by the orb.

Mike could see the effort Tina was displaying. Her forehead was shinny and her skin shallow. Her hands shook slightly, yet the set of her shoulders and the cadence of her intones were confident, as though only parts of the girl remained and another source was using the shell.

Even Ms. Pillsbury seemed to stir at the growing boom Tina's chanting seemed to take on, rising as the house rocked harder and the buzz of blackness swam and soared from the orb into Quinn, out of the vampire, and around the ceiling. With a repetitive string of chilling phrases, Tina reached the climax of the spell. Quinn and Tina both began to slowly float, caught in the triangle of the vampires circling them, seeping something old and powerful. With one final shriek that seemed to come from the glass of the windows, the room whimpered and both Tina and Quinn slammed back to the ground, sending all three vampires hurling to all corners of the basement from some unseen force.

Mercedes grabbed her friends to shield them as best she could as unexplainable elements danced and fought in response to the spell. It lasted like a strong breeze before it settled: the room, Tina, and the magicks now quiet.

"What the hell was that?" Mercedes asked, ducking out from underneath Sam's protective arm.

No one answered, however. Rachel was up and racing across the room in the time it took Mike to blink, huddled over Quinn. "Santana," Rachel thundered.

Santana's confused expression cleared in an instant, and like Rachel, she recovered quickly, up and zipping over towards Brittany. "She's okay," she murmured, not needing to help Brittany to her feet, but doing so anyway. Mercedes felt the air change a moment after all the vampires suddenly went stone-still. Tina responded next, then the boys. "They grow closer," Rachel mumbled, looking briefly at the kids before glancing back at her lover.

"Time's up," Quinn breathed.

"It's too soon for you," Rachel said, only a hint of anxiety as she stared at the Chief.

Quinn smiled back lovingly. "I feel strong, lover. Like my old self." Rachel smiled in reply and Brittany and Santana joined in conspiratorially.

The stale air seemed to shift and suddenly Santana's lungs inhaled deeply as her nostrils flared. "There are more than we originally hoped," she stated, her eyes suddenly worried as she looked at the others.

"We can take them," Rachel nodded, although Mercedes noticed she looked unsure as she glanced at Quinn.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Mercedes demanded, scrambling to her feet despite her friends' silent protests.

She watched as the vampires traded loaded looks. "She could help, grand-mommy," Brittany said as she cuddled up to Quinn. "The witch and the warlock, too."

"The spares will get in the way," Rachel argued, motioning to Artie, Sam, and Ms. Pillsbury.

"Help with what?" Mercedes gritted out, not appreciating the suddenly dire circumstance the vampires thought they were in.

"We'll help," Mike said softly, giving Tina a comforting smile before also getting to his feet. His girlfriend seemed okay, just slightly shaky. Mercedes shot him a glare, but he gave her a smile too. "Whatever you need, we'll help," he reiterated, confident in the knowledge that this was their only chance to get out of this alive; whatever was about to happen could be the distraction he and his friends needed to make their escape.

The vampires seemed to silently communicate with one another before Rachel finally stepped forward. "Okay, slayer," she smirked, as though she was tasting the word and deemed it delicious. "You and your friends can play."

"And you're in for a treat," Quinn said, moving to stand right behind her lover as she stared down at the slayer and her friends, no remnants of the spell unsettling her. "Sue and her minions are on their way and should be here any moment."

Mercedes and Mike exchanged fearful expressions as Artie groaned. "How many are you expecting?" Mercedes asked, fairly confident she wasn't going to like the answer.

"Santana?" Quinn asked, wrapping a lazy arm around Rachel's middle and pulling her lover into her pale arms, Brittany stepping closer to cuddle up to them as well.

Santana's nostrils flared again as her dark eyes snapped closed. "I'd say we're expecting a party of over thirty, easy. Maybe a few more."

"We were prepared for that!" Brittany said eagerly.

Rachel gave her a small smile. "We were, Britt; our little girl's intel was accurate, she did well." Brittany beamed in response. But prepared or not, thirty vampires would take its toll on the large property of the mansion. There were a lot of ways that it could go wrong. "Fine," Rachel acquiesced with a huff, "the slayer and her minions may fight."

Brittany smiled widely at Mercedes. "This is going to be so much fun!" The slayer didn't smile back.

"What are we walking into here?" Mercedes went on, ignoring Brittany's enthusiasm.

"The General and her army are here to take out Rachel, Brittany, Santana, and myself. It's something she has been trying to do for eons and she has followed us to Lima in an effort to once and for all do so." Mercedes blinked back dumbly. "Our goal is to not die. Make it easy enough for you, slayer?"

Rachel rolled her eyes at the anxious looks the kids exchanged. "All you need to know is that if you want to make it here out alive, you need to fight for your life. Understood?"

"And no one touches Sue before I speak to her," Quinn growled. Mercedes noticed that the three other vampires didn't seem surprised by this, but she traded confused looks with Sam at the odd request.

Getting to her feet, Tina stuttered, "Wh-wha-what about Miss Pillsbury?" she spoke up. Everyone glanced down at the woman.

Rachel huffed. "I can hardly help her if she's sleeping through the battle."

"She'd be a big help," Mike went on, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend. "She could use her magicks."

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Rachel gestured wildly. "Fine, fine, yes, whatever. If you can wake her up than she can play." The kids immediately went to their mentor's side, relieved that they were finally able to tend to her. As she watched the kids ineptly tend to the unconscious woman, she rolled her eyes and huffed. "Santana, they obviously are going to need help. Do what you can."

Santana nodded and rooted through the items they had collected for Quinn's spell and was soon shoving the kids out of the way in an effort to help the woman. Although Brittany and Quinn seemed confident, Santana agreed with Rachel that they would need the help. This time felt different for some reason. They had been in tighter spots, but this time felt like a last time. As Santana worked on the woman, her gaze constantly flickered up to Brittany, Quinn, and – grudgingly – Rachel. Her loves. Her life. She had only just got them all back, and she would do whatever it'd take to ensure that she wouldn't lose them. If that meant patching back together a spastic witch...Santana would be a team player.

"It's okay," Mercedes found herself saying as she watched Santana work on her mentor. "We'll fight, like we always do. Sam, you okay to do this?" The boy only paused a moment before he was nodding back, adrenaline wearing thin after the last half an hour or so of sitting in the basement with his broken arm. But this was a life or death situation and Sam knew he had to fight.

"I'm ready."

"Is there something we can do for his arm?" Mike asked Santana, almost forgetting that she was a vicious vampire – a vicious vampire that was actually responsible for Sam's broken arm.

"I'll wrap it. That's the best I got. Now stop talking to me or I'll eat you."

"You need us," Mercedes said, her tone forceful.

"Fine," Santana said, her features relaxed as she waved some of the stinkier spell ingredients in front of Miss Pillsbury's nose, "I'll just kill anyone who seems to be dead weight." As Emma started to stir, Santana glanced up at Artie with a smirk. "See, teach is all better now." Santana got to her feet as Tina laid a soft hand on her mentor's head.

Mercedes watched as the four vampires stood in a circle and spoke to one another. They weren't whispering, but for whatever reason, Mercedes couldn't hear them; her mind too full with everything. Blaine was dead, and Will, and Kitty. Mercedes was responsible for her friends and if Sue and her minions didn't kill them all, she was sure the Unholy Trinity would.

The Unholy Trinity plus Rachel. Whatever the hell they were called.

"Mercedes," Artie whispered, fearful, "what are we gonna do?"

Mercedes glanced around at the four terrified faces. "Mike, are you able to do any magic yet?" She watched as his eyes slipped closed for a moment before they opened again, defeat clear.

"I think my concussion is still affecting my magicks."

"How she holding up, Tina?" Mercedes asked, glancing down at the pale face of Miss Pillsbury.

Tina only shook her head in reply. "She is just mumbling incoherently, in and out of consciousness. She really needs a hospital." It was another hit they didn't need.

"Sam? Are you sure you can fight?" The boy looked at his girlfriend for a long moment before glancing around at his friends, pausing longer on Artie and Miss Pillsbury.

"It's like you said, Cedes, we'll fight like we always do."

Mercedes nodded and addressed Mike. "Fight, if you find your magic coming back, use whatever you can. Tina, try to stay out of sight and just use your magic! You hear me, girl?" she said, giving her friend a soft smile. Tina nodded back, the corner of her mouth tilting up slightly. "Now that we've seen what you can really do, I'm expecting you to kick some major vampire ass, got it?"

This time Tina let out a strangled chuckle despite herself. "Yeah, Tine, you got some serious mojo working. Show them vampires you mean business!" Artie said with a smile.

Mike wrapped an arm around his girlfriend and kissed the top of her head. "That's my girl; stronger than even she knows." He squeezed the girl's arm and offered a beaming smile.

"Sam, use your shirt as a sling; something tells me that Santana isn't about to come over here and nurse you back to health," Mercedes grunted, looking back over to where the vampires were still strategizing. With Mike's help, Sam slipped out of his button up shirt he wore over his t-shirt and they did their best to wrap his wounded arm close to his body.

"Stay close to Tina and Mike, understand?" she threatened quietly, real concern in her eyes as she silently pleaded with her boyfriend to be safe.

"Got it," he winked back.

"Artie, stay down here with Miss Pillsbury," Mercedes began, and then held up her hand to cut the boy off before he could protest. "Someone needs to keep an eye on her and fill her in when she's with it. If any vamps get past us and into the basement, you're her last line of defense."

Despite his chagrin, Artie slowly nodded his ducked head; pissed yet again, he was left out of the fray because of his handicap.

Mercedes and Sam got to their feet, ready to begin, as Mike carried Miss Pillsbury to a more remote part of the basement. "Hey," Tina softly said, taking Artie's hand. "Just because you're not going to be upstairs doesn't mean you're not apart of the team or not important."

"Oh yeah?" Artie scoffed.

Tina frowned, upset with her ex for never fully seeing how he played into the grand scheme of their group. If Artie hadn't hacked into the hospital's mainframe that one time, Mercedes never would have been able to sneak into the morgue and stop those demons from taking the babies for their sacrifice. If Artie hadn't been able to remove that computer virus, they never would have figured out that that freshman was breading hell hounds. If Artie hadn't kissed her sophomore year and smiled at her so sweetly, Tina may have never found the confidence to become the person she was slowly becoming.

"You're more than your wheelchair, Artie."

"Am I?" he asked miserably.

"You are to me!" But the boy didn't seem to hear her or grasp the message any clearer than he had each time before it had been discussed. Tina suddenly felt as though he'd never get the message.

The kids grew still as the vampires turned to face them, all four smirking sensually as though a lover's tryst was on the agenda, and not a battle to the death. Quinn moved forward, hands on her waist, breasts pushed out to make the embroidered Cheerios' logo really stand out.

"Rachel, Santana, the slayer, and I will be outside on the grounds as the first wave. Brittany and the Warlock will be upstairs as the second wave for any vamp that gets by us. The rest of you who are fighting, stay inside towards the back of the house. Questions? Concerns?" Mercedes thought she could see generations-worth of blood dripping from the Chief's mouth as she grinned down at them.

As a unit, the rest of the vampires stepped forward, in line with Quinn with matching smirks.

"Then let's get this started," Rachel said, taking Quinn's hand and heading for the staircase in the dark basement. Mercedes, Sam, Mike, and Tina shared resolved looks before following closely behind, ready to take a stand.

Bringing up the rear, Santana took Brittany's hand and went to follow after the kids. Suddenly wide-eyed and panicked, Artie grabbed for Brittany's wrist to stop her. She glanced down at his hand and instantly her fangs sprung forth as she growled. He couldn't even blink or inhale before Santana was suddenly in front of him. "Take your hands off of her!"

Artie's hand retreated instantly and he threw the other one up as well in a sign of surrender. "Sorry, sorry! I just wanted to..."

"I don't give a fucking damn what you want, Wheels! No one puts their hands on her!" Santana sneered.

Brittany, hearing the approaching vampires' snarls and Mercedes strategizing with Rachel and Quinn upstairs, placed a comforting hand on Santana's arm as her own fangs retracted.

Steeling himself, he took a deep breath and looked up at the two terrifying vampires. "I'm not any use to you down here," he said, gesturing to the basement.

"You're really no use to me anywhere, Sit and Spin, but at least down here I know where I'm keeping my carryout."

Ignoring Santana's comment, Artie pushed on. "Turn me. Make me a vampire and I can fight. I can walk up those steps and I can help you defeat the General and her minions!"

Santana and Brittany traded looks, suppressing their amusement. "You want to be a vampire?" Santana asked, unable to hide her smirk.

Artie clenched his jaw and searched himself before glancing up at the vampires. "Yes."

Brittany gave him a long, measured look that made Santana throw her arms up and roll her eyes in frustration. "Fine," she said, causing the boy to beam in response. He would finally be able to walk! He would find those jerks at school that bullied him and make them pay!

Before another thought could even be processed, Brittany's fangs burst forth and she swooped down and dug her fangs into his thumping jugular. Santana inspected her nails and took a step to her left to avoid the spurt of blood and sighed dramatically. A moment later, Brittany pulled away with a bloody smile.

"You know we don't have time for this, right?"

Brittany nodded with an owlish expression and then shrugged. "By the time he became a vampire the fight would be over!" Suddenly, Brittany looked sheepish. "I was just hungry."

Santana took in the slumping figure in the chair and extended one thin, veiny hand to stroke the boy's chin, noticing his weakened pulse. "I wouldn't have been able to tolerate him for five more minutes never mind five hundred more years." Without another glance, both vampires turned and held hands as they made their way up the staircase. It was time for battle.

As the vampires made their way up the stairs into the small, dated kitchen, they observed the (remaining) kids huddled together closely. Brittany noticed the tears in all their eyes and frowned. "Fights are fun, San," Brittany said in confusion.

"I know they are, baby."

The pair rounded the corner into the living room where they both instantly beamed at what they were witnessing: Quinn had Rachel pinned to the front door, fucking her relentlessly.

"This, however," Santana began with a smirk, "we have time for."

Both Quinn and Rachel glanced over at the two and laughed. "The slayer is in the kitchen giving a rousing speech," Quinn said before burying her face into Rachel's neck.

"It was very..." Rachel moaned loudly before she chuckled at Quinn's enthusiasm, "rousing."

While they watched Rachel near her orgasm, Brittany and Santana allowed their hearing to extend to the room over where Mercedes, Sam, Tina, and Mike gathered. Unaware that below them their friend was dying, unsure if their teacher and mentor would make it, and terrified wondering if they'd last the impending battle.

"…we've been through so much together, and if Mr. Schue were here, he'd tell us to..."

Santana blew a raspberry and rolled her eyes at Mercedes' words; she really hated optimistic speeches. Especially when the sounds and smells of their enemies were quickly approaching.

"Better hurry up, Q," Santana smirked, taking Brittany's hand tighter within her own. "Company is almost here."

Quinn groaned as she felt Rachel flutter against her fingers. "Our first time…"

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Rachel moaned back. The mix of blood and come still fragrant even after all this time.

"I killed you there," Quinn mumbled against Rachel's neck. "I made you mine."

"In all the ways," Rachel answered as she quickened her pace.

Their eyes locked and they were both instantly transported back.

---

Paris, France: 1667

The cheering crowd was still ringing in Rachel's ears as she and Quinn reached their newest home. It was a mansion, of sorts. Rachel had watched as Quinn attacked a rich lord in the area and stole everything from him before snapping his neck. Rachel had only flinched slightly, and it had been when the man's cane twacked against the ground too loudly. But no one had seemed to notice, and Quinn and Rachel took their newfound riches to the nearest grand house for sale.

As they strolled into their home, Rachel giggled wildly as she recalled seeing all those eager fans on their feet, shouting her name and clapping their hands red. Quinn wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist and pulled her against her cold body. "Remembering your victory?" Quinn asked, smirking against Rachel's neck.

Rachel sighed pleasantly, enjoying the feel of Quinn's hands slowly stroking up and down her torso. "These past few months have been a dream, Quinn!"

There was no sickness. Rachel was adored everywhere she went. And Quinn was feeding off of Rachel once every week or so. It was more than a dream, it was everything either one of them had ever wanted.

"I told you I'd give you the world," Quinn whispered next to Rachel's ear. They both knew that tonight would be another night of Quinn atop Rachel, Quinn hungrily sucking from the girl until she knew she'd have to pull away. But it also felt different. With Rachel having a few days until her next show, Quinn felt like it may be time to finally taste all of Rachel.

Rachel's gaze dropped to where Quinn was untying the ribbon that kept the front of her dress modest. Slowly, more and more of Rachel's cleavage was revealed. Then Quinn was kissing at her neck. She would leave marks, but neither seemed to care. Next, Rachel's dress was being pushed to the ground. This wasn't exactly new, but then her undergarments were being shoved to the floor. Rachel shivered due to the cold, Quinn's touches, and because tonight all her dreams were coming true. The last coherent thought she had before Quinn's fangs were at her neck and her fingers were at the juncture between her thighs, was that maybe she was her parents' daughter after all.

But then Quinn was inside her. The pull of her mouth and the pump of her fingers was rhythmic. Blood slowly ran down her neck like her juices ran down her thigh. The cold hand at her breasts squeezed, and Rachel was calling out loudly for Quinn, just like her audience had screamed for Rachel earlier. Quinn didn't stop. And soon, Rachel was swaying on shaking feet until she was guided towards their bed. Quinn dropped to her knees in front of Rachel, parting her thighs and glancing up at the girl. Quinn's teeth were bared, her vampiric face on, and Rachel didn't even notice, too caught up in Quinn's smirk.

Quinn used a sharp fingernail to softly slice a bloody line against her inner thigh. Then Quinn was sucking there, too. Rachel felt her body crash back onto the bed as her hand tangled in blonde hair. She glanced down the length of herself to watch Quinn's tongue trace that line over and over and over again until she was once more inside Rachel, her tongue swirling with come and the taste of copper. And Rachel wasn't sure what she wanted more, in that moment, but she knew she wanted everything Quinn could give and no limits.

"Keep feeding," Rachel gasped, aware that Quinn had already taken more than she should or typically did. "Do not stop," the moan begged.

Quinn quickly ripped her own clothes to tatters and pressed herself up the length of Rachel's body, her fingers replacing her tongue as she kissed Rachel, her legs straddling Rachel's as she rocked against her. Rachel had never tasted herself before; not her blood and not her come. She was hungry for it all as she kissed Quinn back. "I want to taste you," Rachel breathed, watching the dark hazel of Quinn's eyes swirl. "Cut yourself and let me taste you."

The crawl of Quinn's smirk overwhelmed Rachel. "You are ready to be like me?" Quinn asked, her fingers slowing only to accommodate another finger, before quickening once more.

"Yes!" Rachel cried.

"Are you begging me?" Quinn asked with a cruel smile.

"Yes! Suck more from me!" Rachel answered as her body thrashed. "Let me taste from you, let me taste you," she continued, asking for two different things.

"You will live forever, entertaining all."

"Being with you," Rachel confirmed, her orgasm making her blink back stars.

"We will start a family together, reaving the world," Quinn promised.

"We will find what happened to your daughter and make Sue suffer for taking her from you."

"We will slaughter slayers, until the line is gone."

"We will have everything we want, nothing can stop us!"

Quinn tore into her own flesh before returning to Rachel's neck. There were so many sensations happening, she forced herself to focus on each: the feel of Rachel's tight cunt around her fingers, so wet and throbbing, her own pleasure as she rocked against Rachel's strong thigh, the sting on her arm from where her teeth just ripped the flesh away, Rachel's naked body along her own, and the taste of the woman she loved being gulped down her refreshed throat. And then, and then the toe-curling sensation of Rachel's delicate tongue lapping at her arm.

They both came then. Quinn's orgasm was sudden and explosive. Rachel was coming in pulses as she hungrily kissed Quinn's wounded shoulder. And Quinn kept sucking at Rachel's neck, pulling and pulling as Rachel's begging words to take her got faint. When Quinn finally retracted her fangs from Rachel, she guided her mouth back to Quinn's shoulder to offer more of her blood. Rachel sucked again, harder this time, and the world opened for them with howling cries of terror.

---

Lima, Ohio: Present Day

Rachel came with an almost musical shriek. She and Quinn traded devious smirks before Rachel dropped to her feet. "Well then," she said as she unnecessarily cleared her throat. "Let's be polite and greet our guests, shall we?"

The kids stumbled from the kitchen looking white-faced as their eyes darted about.

"Slayer," Quinn grunted, opening the door slightly to put her body in front of Rachel's. "Come with us."

Mercedes gave her friends a long, meaningful look before following after the two vampires, Santana bringing up the rear and closing the door behind herself. Brittany turned to Tina then with a smile. "You could probably heal your friend's arm, you know?"

Tina blanched at looked over at Mike before looking back to Brittany. "I could?"

Brittany nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah! You should be super proud of your magical ancestors! If we hadn't killed them all you'd probably have been sent to study with them." Tina's face paled even further. "But you could learn fast...you have some serious power working for you!"

Tina slowly approached Sam, who seemed to be lightly wheezing through his pain. "What do I do?" she whispered fearfully, unsure of her own power and what it was capable of now that she had tapped into it.

Brittany shrugged. "Just heal it I guess? How the hell should I know?" Brittany then turned with a flick of her Cheerio's skirt and headed toward the window to peer outside to watch her lovers.

Mike took Tina' shoulders in his large hands and whispered softly, "You can do this, Tina, I know you can!"

With a pained smile and nod of encouragement, Sam held out his arm towards his friend. "I trust you, Tina."

Tina knew spells, she had memorized them. Healing spells were one of the first she learned for obvious reasons. But ever since she saw a magic book that day in the glee choir room after finding out about Mercedes, no magic has ever come alongside the incantations.

Until now.

It was as though the spell she had been forced to cast had set something off inside of Tina. She felt the power and the strength, and as soon as her eyes had slipped shut and her hand hovered over Sam's broken arm, the magic seemed to get stuck before funneling at an alarming rate through her body and erupting from her hand.

Both Sam and Mike gasped as Tina's hand glowed and sent the magic down through Sam's arm, healing it almost instantly. Color spotted back into Sam's cheeks even before Tina dropped her arm, and his breathing returned to normal.

He brought his arm protectively to his chest to cradle it as Tina's white eyes blinked open and returned to natural warm brown. From across the room, Brittany smirked before turning back to look outside the window. "She'll be fun to kill," Brittany whispered softly to herself. Outside, Quinn, Rachel, and Santana turned to glance at Brittany with knowing smiles.

As Sam enthusiastically thanked Tina, Brittany's eyes narrowed as she noticed movement in the distance. "Here they come." The other vampires turned back as their bodies prepared for battle.

"Everyone get set, time's up," Brittany said, hopping up and moving quickly around the house. "You guys know how to kill vampires, right?"

The three kids scoffed, "Of course we do," Sam said, still testing out his newly fixed arm.

"Well, I'm just saying...you didn't know Rachel was a vampire...so...?" Brittany shrugged before turning away to keep preparing the house for the battle.

Outside, Mercedes' body tensed further as she gulped loudly. "Scared, slayer?" Quinn asked as her own ethereal beauty seemed to darken as her eyes crackled, staring out in the distance.

Mercedes actually examined the question. Typically, she'd lie no matter how she felt and say she wasn't scared of anything. But Mr. Schue, and Blaine, and Sam's arm, and Ms. Pillsbury...Rachel had somehow sneaked into their group and surprised them all. This situation was not typical in anyway. So instead of her usual line, Mercedes blinked back her tears and whispered, "Hell-to-the-yes."

"Huh," Rachel said, body equally tense as her gaze swept left and right at something Mercedes couldn't yet quite see, "it seems you're learning, slayer."

Before Mercedes could even begin to reply, a hulking figure seemed to fall like rain from the blinding fog that extended before them, stretching out just beyond the mansion's property. Puck was on her, snarling and drooling, his fangs poised like his fists. And he was not alone. As she fought the vampire, she could tell Quinn, Rachel, and Santana were at least all fighting a vampire of their own. She traded left/right combinations with Puck before he was promptly being pushed aside. "My turn, bro!"

Mercedes' eyes went wide as Jake Puckerman started to rain punches down on her. A guy who up until recently she sang with in glee club! A guy she had actually sang a duet with not too long ago...suddenly their duet to the Kink's "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," was a little too on the nose.

The punches were coming fast and hard, but they were also sloppy. Mercedes easily blocked most of them. It seemed Jake, unlike Rachel, wasn't an old vampire. He had probably been turned very recently. He'd been out of school for only a week, maybe? He and Marley...

And sure enough, Marley had then seeped out of the fog, getting Jake's attention. "Ready for some fun, baby?" Jake asked his girlfriend. "You remember Marley, right, Cedes?"

Marley looked livid, vamp face already on. "That solo should have gone to me!"

Mercedes' mouth dropped open as her eyebrows shot up at the bizarre comment. "Girl, I didn't even know it was like that," Mercedes said, before folding her arms across her chest.

Marley only looked confused, head cocked, arms in attack mode out in front of her but frozen in the moment. Together, both Marley and Mercedes look down at the stake sticking out of Marley's chest. Mercedes shrugged, "Guess you just weren't good enough," before taking the stake back and side-stepping the exploding vampire to advance onto Puck once again.

Jake furiously roared at Marley's demise as Puck smirked at her. "Ready for another go, slayer?"

"She's mine!" Jake yelled, once again pushing his brother out of the way.

"Fuck no, baby brother, this one is all mine!"

As the brothers started to argue in earnest, Mercedes scoffed and happily hurled her stake at Puck's heart, hitting her distracted target easily. Before Jake even realized what had happened, Mercedes was picking the fallen stake back up and using it on the second Puckerman.

For the first time since Puck appeared, Mercedes finally had the opportunity to look around the Mansion's property. Quinn was battling three different vampires Mercedes didn't recognize, Rachel was happily fighting two, one of which was the bare-chested Joe, and Santana was taking on three as well. Although, the small blonde who looked like she had barely made it out of middle school didn't really appear to be putting up a fight against the legendary Warrior, mostly just watching.

Mercedes wasn't sure what she should do next. She really wanted to run back into the house and grab her friends and run for it. So what if these vampires killed one another? Quinn and the others got what they wanted: Tina cured Quinn. If Mercedes went into the house now...

But it was no good. Artie and Ms. Pillsbury would slow them down. Even if they could get down to the basement with Brittany managing not to kill any of them, leaving the Mansion's property unscathed would be nearly impossible. No, her best bet was to fight and kill Sue's minions and hope the Unholy Trinity would either suffer losses making it easier for Mercedes and her friends to get away, or that the Unholy Trinity would let them go unharmed. Mercedes didn't really like those chances.

And it seemed they were founded. Quinn had killed both her vampires and had moved on to help Rachel fight with Joe now that she had killed the others she had been dueling. Santana had managed to kill two of the vampires she had been fighting, while the little blonde vampire stood off to the side. For whatever reason, Santana didn't seem to want to fight her. There were more vampires now, and Mercedes thought she recognized a few – some from around town, at her school, or vampires she had faced off with before – but Sue was nowhere in sight yet.

"Come on, Joey, afraid of a little girl like me?" Rachel taunted the vampire, all three danced around one another, waiting to either land a hit or deflect one.

Joe's face contorted slightly. "You were never a girl. What you did to Quinn...you're the worst demon I've ever faced."

At that, Rachel froze where she stood, head quirking slightly as a look of awe crossed her face. "That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." Rachel looked to a smirking Quinn. "Why do you never say romantic things like that?"

Quinn continued to smile, shaking her head at Rachel. "Joe's just a swell guy, Rach."

Rachel cocked her head back towards Joe. "Does it just kill you that you never got her and I did?" Quinn's hazel eyes rolled in amusement as Joe's snarl ripped through the air. He dove for Rachel a second later, his teeth snapping all the while.

Mercedes wanted to watch, but rolling up the hill of the sizable land the mansion was plotted on was movie-like fog, with a hoard of vampires swaggering in its wake, Sue leading the pack. Barely sucking in a breath of panic, Mercedes suddenly found herself flanked by Santana and the small, young blonde vampire that Santana faced but didn't fight.

"You were right, sweetheart...there are around thirty," Santana said as she observed Sue and her minions coming closer by the moment.

Mercedes was ready to snap at Santana, the panic growing and taking on a life of its own as each second ticked by. But the young vampire beside Mercedes nodded. "I knew Sue would underestimate you all once again," she said smugly. "Mommy was right."

Santana smirked. "She's always right." Snapping her neck towards the young vampire, Santana suddenly scowled. "Don't tell her I said that, Romy,"

Romy covered her mouth politely and let out pearls of laughter, "Never, sissy."

Mercedes shook her head, too much information weighing her down. Santana took a step forward and held out her hand. Romy immediately followed suit, taking Santana's hand. "Let's get Britts and finish this once and for all."

"Grand-mommy will not want us to kill the General until she knows what happen to the baby."

Santana only growled. "Why should it matter what happened to the baby...that was eons ago, and Quinn will never get her back regardless!"

As Romy and Santana continued their conversation, heading off into the fray, Mercedes stumbled back. She should be curious as to who Romy was, what baby they were talking about, what happened to the fight between Quinn, Rachel, and Joe. But in that moment, Mercedes only cared about figuring out how to finish this in order to get her and her friends out alive.

As if she summoned her by magicks, Tina was at her side looking concerned. "What is it, Mercedes? What do you need?"

"How did you know that I wanted you?"

Tina shrugged, mouth slightly gaping as a running Sam and Mike trailed after her. "I just knew?" Okay, Mercedes considered, maybe she had been summoned by magicks.

"Holy shit!" Sam swore as he took in the sight of the thirty-some vampires coming up quickly behind Sue. Just like in horror movies, these bad guys didn't seem like they were in a rush; just slowly taking their time. Amongst the kids, the Unholy Trinity plus Rachel, Romy and Joe were the only two remaining vampires from Sue's army. But considering Romy was hugging Brittany and Santana, Mercedes felt it was a safe bet that Romy was on the Unholy Trinity's side.

"Hey, witchy woman?" All the kids turned as Santana, Brittany, and Romy came walking over, Romy in between the two older looking vampires, holding both Brittany and Santana's hands. "We have some quick learning to do."

Tina stuttered over her surprise a few times. "W-what?"

"You're gonna be a big help in making this a fast fight. Just listen closely and remember how badass you are," Santana prompted. Mercedes watched them go until Brittany standing directly in front of her split her attention. Luckily Mike had joined Tina and Santana, so Mercedes felt a little relief that Tina was mostly safe.

"We're going to practice too," Brittany said happily, her light blue eyes zeroed in on Mercedes.

"What?"

Romy beamed up at Brittany as she spoke to Mercedes, "My sissy was a slayer before mommy killed us."

Mercedes shook her head to clear it. "What?"

Brittany's lips twisted, "You're not good at thinking either, huh?"

Thankfully Sam was there to trade confused looks with Mercedes. But as Brittany's face morphed back to look more human, Mercedes saw it. Brittany and Romy had been sisters before they had been turned by Rachel. She could see more than just blonde hair and blue eyes, but similar noses and cheekbones and build.

"Sissy can help you unleash your slayer," Romy continued before reaching out her hand to Sam. "And I can teach you how to fight better."

"In a matter of minutes?" Sam blurted out, eyes more on the impending vampire hoard so close that it appeared as though Joe, Rachel, and Quinn had stopped their fighting to take notice.

Romy only smiled serenely up at Sam. "Yes."

Thirty feet away, Quinn, Rachel, and Joe were still doing their circling dance. While Joe had made lunges and threats, it seemed to both Quinn and Rachel that he was not permitted to do anything more until Sue showed up.

"You're still on the wrong side, Q," Joe sneered. "Why are you allowing this monster to tell you what to do? You could be so much more under the General!"

Rachel laughed again. "'Monster?!' Stop flirting with me in front of Quinn, Joe!" She turned to her mate. "He calls me a monster one more time and I think you're going to have serious competition, baby!"

Quinn rolled her eyes once again.

"You were a monster in life just as you are in death!" Joe spat. "Quinn starved herself for you! She went against her family and all that she knew for a taste of you! What did you do to her, witch?!"

Rachel smiled seductively up at a smirking Quinn. "Sounds like our wedding vows, my love."

"Almost verbatim," Quinn confirmed.

With growing bravado, Rachel threw her arms out widely, "While I'm no witch, I do have to admit that I taste rather fabulous. Care for a drop, Joe?"

Joe only smirked back. "I believe your time is up, actress," he hissed.

Quinn's brow popped at the accusation, but a millisecond later, the stake's point was sticking out of Rachel's chest.

The hoard was upon them. While they had taken their time, it seemed that Sue couldn't help but seize on the opportunity to catch Rachel, and Quinn, unaware. She had grabbed the nearest tree branch and lurched through the air to shove it firmly into Rachel's back and through the heart.

Quinn turned, vampire face instantaneous when she saw the stake sticking out of her lover's heart, and was on Sue in a blink of an eye with a vicious battle cry. Soon, Brittany, Santana, and Romy were lunging through the air, beautiful faces beyond barbaric as they all attacked. While Quinn seemed to be ripping into Sue with teeth and nails, Santana was savagely punching and hitting any vampire remotely close, while Brittany perfectly executed every well-timed block and brutal parlay. Romy didn't seem to have the same thirst for the fight, instead bobbing in and out of each vampire, carefully staking and moving onto her next target. Each had a style all their own, but their anger and danger was one cohesive signature.

And while there wasn't the same anger, Mercedes found herself moving at a sprint. She had seen the stake go through Rachel and the only conscious thought had been that she needed to fight, to defend. Mercedes had been aware enough of the fact that Tina, Mike, and Sam were all running behind her, just as eager to join the fight. And soon, she, Mike, and Sam were engaging in fisticuffs with any standing vampire. Beside them, weaving and bobbing much like Romy, was Tina, as she furiously chanted in a language Mercedes hadn't even recognized. She was using her magicks to break tree limbs off and either bash Sue's minions around, or cause the pointy end to go right through a vampire's sternum. It was chaos. But Mercedes never felt more like a slayer. Just like Brittany had said, she had let something awaken in herself and she was suddenly on autopilot, letting generations of slayers guide her with every punch, dodge, and kick.

And not far away, Joe was still smiling as he stared at the stake sticking out of Rachel's heart. Until he noticed that scene wasn't changing. That the stake was still just sticking out of the vampire's chest. Rachel's body still in one piece. Then Joe frowned.

"Yeah, crazy, right?" Rachel said conversationally as she placed her hands on her hips to gaze down at the stake. She blew out a long breath that fluttered her hair. "While I didn't necessarily love this sweater depicting the reindeer, I'm super bummed that it now has a hole in it. At the very least, I can't return it now."

"What?! How are you-"

"Still alive?" Rachel asked as her lips twisted into the smile she had wanted to really let loose as soon as she had seen Joe. God, she hated Sue. The General. That idiotic woman with her dumb plans and egocentric ideas. She had made Quinn live in squalor. Had taken the best kills and riches away from her lover. Made Quinn nothing more than a lapdog.

But Joe...Joe thought he was so important to Quinn. Called himself a brother and really wanted nothing more than all of Quinn. He was still bitter, after all this time, that Quinn hadn't been the one that turned him. Was pissed that she so easily had left Joe to be with Rachel. Now, every time Sue and Joe and the Unholy Trinity's paths would cross, Joe would take an active role in reminding Rachel of all the time he had spent with Quinn before Rachel had come along.

This would be so sweet...

Rachel flipped her hair dramatically. "Did you really think that I wouldn't sense Sue coming? The woman reeks of desperation, Joe, you must smell it? I knew her plans before she even made it up the hill. I knew she would see me and would want to try taking me out. So predictable."

"How are you not dust?" Joe cried out, furious.

"Oh. That?" Rachel asked innocently. She admired the stake for a moment more before glancing at the pendant around her neck. "Bought it off ebay from the user UnicornHarmony01. Ever heard of the Gem of Amara, Joe?"

"The Gem of-" But at that moment, Rachel yanked the stake out of her heart and flung it at the vampire's bare chest, sinking it through his heart and turning the ancient vampire to dust.

Rachel clapped her hands free of debris and shrugged. "I guess you're not familiar," Rachel quipped, before spinning around to join the fight.

Once Sue realized Joe was dust, her right-hand man and oldest partner since Quinn was gone, she howled wildly and flung Quinn off of her, knocking the vampire into Santana and Brittany. All three vampires went down. The fight seemed to stop in that moment, both sides recuperating: Sue's numbers had been substantially depleted, leaving her with only twelve vampires behind her.

The Unholy Trinity, Rachel, Romy, Mercedes, Tina, Mike, and Sam all stood close, facing off against the General and her minions, feeling more than confident.

"You take everything from me!" Sue growled at Rachel, leering forward around a snarl.

Rachel's big brown eyes went wide with innocence. "What? Oh, no!" she cried, looking close to tears. "I'm so sorry, General! What have I done? You must forgive me! I feel so terrible that I have once again hurt you!"

If Mercedes hadn't known that Rachel couldn't give a shit about Sue, she would've thoroughly believed that Rachel was genuinely sorry. Beside her, Quinn, Brittany, and Santana were smiling and barely holding in their laughter, confirming Mercedes' thoughts. There was no getting around it: Rachel Berry was the best actress of all time.

"Meryl Streep would be jealous," Tina mumbled, softly.

Mercedes turned to look at her friend. "Are you reading my mind?!"

Tina seemed startled by that and winced slightly. "I think maybe I am?"

"You got serious power, girl."

"I'm going to kill you," Sue gritted, stealing Mercedes' attention back. The vampire looked furiously at Rachel. "But first, I'm going to kill your little ones-" Sue stopped abruptly as she took note of Romy standing hand in hand between Santana and Rachel. "Romy? What the hell are you doing over there?!" Sue asked incredulously.

Romy shrugged noncommittally.

"But we've been together since the Battle of Eylau!"

"Romy was Brittany's sister, and I sired them both shortly before we sent Romy off to keep an eye on you," Rachel said, pulling a Santana as she glanced at the state of her nails, ignoring Quinn's looks.

It had actually been quite a brutal fight; Quinn had been over the moon when Rachel had given her the present of an actual Vampire Slayer, Brittany. Quinn couldn't wait to use her toy and loved that the girl got visions. But Romy...she was too young. Too blonde...too much like what was taken away from Quinn. Rachel had sobbed, had begged Quinn to let her keep the girl. Quinn wanted her dead. They agreed to let Romy live, and go be a spy so they always could remain a step ahead of Sue. She was Rachel's daughter, Brittany's sister in life and death, and a little one to Santana as well. In only recent decades has Quinn started to warm to the girl.

Sue's anger seemed to inflate and grow insurmountably as she glared down at the vampire family. She looked pure evil in that moment, and, for the first time, Mercedes saw Sue morph into her vampiric face.

"I'm going to kill you! I'll make you watch, as I kill your little ones, then I'm taking Quinn back, and then I'll kill you!" she roared.

Rachel's face scrunched up in confusion. "I thought first you would try and stake me and fail. Well," Rachel acknowledged, "first, you'll try and kill us in Bursa, and fail miserably, then you'll try to kill us in Suez and fail even harder. And then try in the dumbest way possible in-"

The fight was underway again, Sue leaping through the air at Rachel, getting everyone else to react.

The numbers were no longer in Sue's favor, and it seemed like the odds were stacked against the General. Rachel, while in no real danger as long as the Gem of Amara necklace was on her, battled hard against Sue. And all around them, the Unholy Trinity was laying waste to her minions with the help of Romy and Mercedes and her friends. It was becoming increasingly clearer each minute that this was no longer a fight, but an extermination.

"You can't kill me, little one, you can't kill the General! Q won't allow it!" Sue shrieked, trying and failing to take Rachel out. Until the Unholy Trinity was at Rachel's side, watching on as the petite vampire tangled with the General. "You can't lay a hand on me and you know it! Q won't let you! Q wants to know what happened to her daughter!" The comment took Mercedes back slightly. Her friends as well, if their puzzled expressions were anything to go by. Sue looked crazed. She was almost alone now, only a few vampires left of her army. Sue battled Rachel as the Unholy Trinity looked on with Sam and Mike finishing up the remaining vampires. But with each taunt to the Unholy Trinity, Sue seemed to grow stronger. "I'll never tell, and you'll never kill me, and we'll continue this fight until the day when I kill you, kill you all!"

With her horrible shriek, Sue finally landed a punch that sent Rachel spiraling through the air. Santana moved forward in retaliation, but Sue kicked at the Warrior, knocking her to the ground. Quinn and Brittany were next, but Sue was on a roll and slapped them both away, thundering forward at the kids like a starving, rabid animal, wanting to kill something to regain some control.

Mercedes advanced, drawn by the primal slayer within to kill the ancient vampire. Mercedes managed to land several crucial punches and kicks, getting the General to take a number of steps back. Will's Watcher training flowed through her. The tips Brittany provided strengthened that teaching. The energy around her only emboldened her.

Until she heard Sam's cry of pain. Mercedes quickly looked back to see one of the few vampires not dusted standing over Sam menacingly. Luckily, the vampire was quickly staked by Rachel. But it was too late: It was at that moment that Mercedes felt the hands at her neck.

Sue's white skin, almost clear around her knuckles, squeezed tighter at Mercedes' neck. Sam and Mike went flying as they tried to approach. Sue's free hand batted away Tina's attempts to send items hurling at the vampire. It was just Sue and Mercedes, face to face.

"Killing a slayer may just be what I need to finally finish this," Sue said, seemingly to herself.

Mercedes saw her parents, her older brother. She saw Mr. Schue as her Watcher, hours of fun times spent in Glee. Her training. Her friends. The vampires she had faced, and vampires she had never faced at all, but the slayers before her, the Slayersbefore her. It happened so quickly. One moment, Mercedes felt pain and panic, and lightheaded. The next, Mercedes' body was moving and reacting with little command. She was maneuvering herself out of the choke hold, using her legs to bring Sue down. She was a slayer, and she was punching Sue, hitting her where it hurt the ancient vampire. She was disarming her. The stake was in her hands and she was plunging it down into the woman's still heart.

There was no sound for a long moment. But then Mercedes was retracting her arm, stake firmly underneath her tight grip, the air whooshed back and the horrific scream of anguish came shrieking from Sue's mouth. It seemed to take forever until, finally, Sue's body exploded from bleached-white bones into millions of particles.

Mercedes stumbled back, eyes focused on where Sue's body used to be. Her friends were rushing towards her, checking on her. She managed to look up at the Unholy Trinity. To make eye contact with all their faces. Santana and Brittany had wide eyes that held flashes of terror. Quinn was the quickest to mask her astonishment. Rachel's amazement turned to mild respect before morphing into cozy smugness.

Almost in perfect harmony, they all began to softly clap their hands – save Quinn, who mostly just looked lost – almost sarcastic in their sudden praise for Mercedes.

"She's all grown up now," Rachel said, wiping an imaginary tear away.

"She's still a crappy slayer," Brittany said, moving forward to hug her sister Romy.

"Not a complete waste," Santana said with a shrug, turning towards her lover and the little vampire. "I guess your vision was right, Britts – they actually did end up helping."

Quinn alone was quiet and somber.

Mercedes felt her friends close in tightly - Sam at her right, Tina her immediate left with Mike next to his girlfriend. She didn't need Tina's hand on her back to get insight into the witches suddenly fearful thoughts.

"But what should we do with them now that they have done their part?" Rachel asked, using her innocent voice, the Unholy Trinity flanking her.

Mike, and Sam immediately tensed, readying for the impending fight. Something told them that fighting the Unholy Trinity, Rachel, and Romy would be a lot harder than Sue and her minions, and both boys thought of Emma and Artie inside.

Suddenly, both boys felt at ease. Mercedes too felt it, but knew it was coming from the witch at her side. "She was alive," Tina said softly. Stepping forward bravely, eyes on Quinn's.

"What?" Santana spit out. Quinn jerked out her arm to cut the younger vampire off and stepped forward as well.

The action was all Tina needed to continue. "I couldn't -" Tina swallowed down her nervousness and took a deep, cleansing breath. "I couldn't read Sue's mind," she began, trying to make sense of it all, all the magicks that had rushed through her. She had to try and sort through them now that it appeared they had quieted some since the battle had ended. "There was nothing there when I tried to read it, but I was able to access her memories, and I saw that she was alive. Your daughter was okay after you gave birth to her...she survived."

The entire Unholy Trinity was in front of Tina in an instant, this news apparently just as important to all four of them. "Tell me everything, witch!" Rachel demanded.

Again, Quinn seemed like the only level-headed one, placing a soft hand on Rachel before dragging her sharp eyes to Tina's face. "Alive?"

Tina shook her head, eyes slipping shut. "When she was taunting you...I couldn't really control what my powers were doing, but I was able to slip into her memories or something. She had been the only vampire at the convent – she killed all the nuns later, after you ran away." Tina shuddered briefly, "After the birth, the nuns gave your daughter to a couple who lived not far from there. The baby was okay."

Quinn's hazel eyes scanned Tina intently for a long time, all the vampires still and silent.

Eventually, Quinn's body shifted slightly. "Thank you," she said, enunciating the word carefully. Beside her, the other vampires finally moved as well. The spell was broken, and Mercedes was aware that in the distance, Romy appeared to be speaking to a young boy in a soccer jersey who Mercedes hadn't noticed before then. She watched as the pair held hands and turned to wait for the Unholy Trinity, and saw that the boy was a vampire. Beneath the distended features of his vampiric face, Mercedes thought she recognized him. His picture had been in the paper the day after the Unholy Trinity had come to town. It seemed the missing child wasn't missing, and was no longer a child.

Mercedes felt the chills race over her and forced herself to look away.

Daylight was only an hour or two off. The fight was won. But with the Unholy Trinity...was the real fight only beginning?

Quinn was still appraising Tina as Mercedes forced herself back into the present. She was sizing her up as the devastated emotion seemed to clear from her beautiful face. "Your witch is inside stirring," Quinn said, gaze on Tina first, then Mercedes. "She'll need medical attention, but she'll be okay."

Brittany fidgeted between Rachel and Santana, looking down at her hands before up at the kids. "The boy in the wheelchair may need some help, too," Brittany said, getting Santana to snort before hiding her laughter.

"What did you do to Artie?" Sam demanded, stepping forward with his fists clenched.

Quinn only rolled her eyes. "Relax, the witch is inside looking after him."

"Yeah," Rachel said, suppressing a smile, "After a liter of blood-"

"Or two," Santana added.

"He'll be right as rain," Rachel finished. All four vampires allowed their smirks to linger before stretching. It was a sudden challenge to the kids. The Unholy Trinity stared down the slayer, the boy, the powerful witch, and her warlock boyfriend.

"Make your move," Mercedes sneered, stake ready – the same stake that she had used to kill one of the oldest living vampires only minutes before. But instead of the carnage she was expecting, her comment caused the vampires to laugh softly, exchanging pleased looks.

"Now why would we do that, slayer?" Rachel asked with a smile.

The kids were caught off-guard by the comment. "How about because you're evil vampires and that is what you do?" Sam spit back, thinking of Blaine, Kitty and her cheerleading friend, Artie, and Will; his teacher, mentor, and friend.

Brittany twirled her hair as she examined the question. "Being a slayer was super fun," she began, watching as her skirt fanned up and down as her hips swiveled. "And you're not very good at it yet." Something inside Mercedes, something deep and powerful, growled.

"Tell that to your General", Mercedes threw back. The kids tensed, again waiting for the fight.

"That was a lovely start, slayer," Rachel said, sarcastic in her praise. "We will give you and your friends another chance to learn."

"But just one more," Quinn addressed coolly, raking her golden eyes over each one, spending a tad more time on Mercedes and Tina than the boys.

"You all should totally keep trying to get better so it will be a fair fight," Brittany added.

"We'll be seeing ya soon, slayer," Santana smirked briefly before her fangs burst forth and she leaned forward menacingly, getting the kids to jerk back, "and your little friends, too!"

The vampires laughed uproariously as they started to pair off: Quinn and Rachel's hands clasped while Santana draped her arm around Brittany. "We'll expect a better fight when the time comes," Rachel warned.

"And when will that be?" Mercedes asked, chin jutting up in challenge.

"We'll know when you're ready," Quinn promised with a smile that was more teeth than lip.

"When you do, we'll make sure you pay," Mike responded, sounding braver than he felt.

The kids felt the resounding laughter more than heard; their hackles rising as the vampires turned and slowly made their way off the mansion's property. Romy and the boy followed, Romy just behind Rachel, while the boy trailed after Brittany. And if the vampires kept going the way they were, they would soon hit Lima's city limits and the town line.

"We'll see," was the hiss of a reply. It could have come from any one of the vampires, or maybe all of them.

"I suppose we're going to Russia again, my love?" Rachel asked Quinn.

Quinn shrugged, "I have to know what became of her," she said before glancing back at the small vampires following and rolling her eyes. "Though, I suppose our family is growing…"

Soon, not even Mercedes could hear the vampires. The threat of a growing Unholy Trinity and the promise they'd be back was all the motivation they needed. It would push the kids. They would practice and research and focus and prepare. Each day would be the start of their last as they waited for the vampires to return.

And in the meantime, they would write. They would put down all they knew. Because, if the Unholy Trinity did return and the kids were unsuccessful, they wanted a backup plan. And hopefully, one day, someone or something would finally be able to stop the Unholy Trinity. The beautiful monsters who made massacres look like Renaissance artwork and enjoyed it like Elizabethan poetry: The Immunda Crux Crucis and their companion…

---

San Sebastian, Puerto Rico: 1868

Rachel finished her meal and let the body of the dead servant girl fall from the chaise and to the floor. She was full now, but growing bored. Where were Quinn and Brittany?

She humfed, knowing exactly where they were and not liking it one bit. Why did Brittany even need to sire anyone? Weren't she and Quinn enough? Only just a decade ago Brittany had seen Romy again, so it wasn't like Brittany didn't have anyone.

Rachel frowned as she picked the servant girl from her teeth, thoroughly annoyed. Even as she smelled her nearing family, her expression never changed.

When Quinn entered the mansion, naked, bloody, and looking so unbelievably beautiful, Rachel only just managed to school her happiness.

"Finally," Rachel said, getting more and more comfortable on the luxurious chaise on which she had been resting.

Quinn smirked at Rachel's jealous tone. "You could have joined us, my love," Quinn said, cozying up behind Rachel despite the blood she was smearing on Rachel's gorgeously expensive dress. "You know Brittany would have loved if you had been there when she turned Santana, and then for the hunt."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "It will never last," she complained, not meeting Quinn's eyes.

Quinn chuckled, "Please do not let them hear you say that, my love. They were right behind me and only stopped for a quick fucking. Please be supportive."

Again, Rachel rolled her eyes. "Why does she even need this boring girl?"

Quinn traced Rachel's neck with her nose. "The same reason you wanted Brittany."

"Brittany was a vampire Slayer who got visions of the future! That is once in a lifetime, Quinn!"

Chuckling, Quinn brought Rachel's hand to her naked thigh. "Santana is special too, my love. Just wait. You will see."

Rachel sucked her teeth when she heard Brittany and Santana approaching, their giggles making her sneer. But once Rachel caught Santana's scent, causing her nostrils to flare, Quinn knew that Rachel understood. It didn't stop her lover from masking her intrigue with a look of bland contempt.

"Mommy!" Brittany cheered a moment later, stumbling into the mansion, her naked limbs tangled with Santana's. "Mommy, this is my Santana!" Brittany said, leaving Santana's prone form to bury herself against Rachel's legs on the chaise.

Both blondes watched as Rachel took in the nervous Santana. There were twenty feet separating the two, but to Quinn and Brittany, such distance may as well be the space between Rachel's fingers and Quinn's warmth. Brittany reached over and guided her mommy's fingers between Quinn's thighs.

Santana's gaze snapped to Quinn as she moaned her pleasure. Brittany began to yank at Rachel's dress, her lips at Rachel's neck. Santana felt herself warm all over, just like when she had fed off the man after being turned.

Rachel observed the new vampire. Her naked body was perfect, her face beyond pleasing. But her scent...she smelled like death and horror and sex and forever. As her own fingers pumped into Quinn and while Brittany feasted at her neck and chest, she reached out her hand towards Santana. "Come, young one," Rachel said, her sharp eyes enamored by the sight of Santana coming for her, excited to see what she could do to this newest member of her family.

Hesitantly, Santana took the proffered hand and sat upon the chaise, on Rachel's other side across from Brittany by Rachel's feet. Rachel watched as Santana took Quinn in, darted her gaze to Brittany, and then focused on Rachel. Rachel returned her stare as she slowly began to smirk. "I...suppose you could be a fun toy," she said, stroking Santana's skin with her thumb. Quinn groaned loudly, tightening around Rachel's fingers.

Brittany pulled away from Rachel's reddened breast to nod. "Oh yes, mommy, she is wonderful!"

Rachel took her hand from Santana's to place it behind the new vampire's head, guiding her in between Rachel's parting thighs. Eagerly, Santana began to lap at Rachel. Brittany returned to sucking at Rachel's throat. Quinn was coming now, the sight before her proving too much.

"Maravilloso!" Rachel declared as Santana sped up and Quinn joined Brittany in her efforts. She glanced up at Quinn and smirked, before looking down to her left than right at Brittany and Santana respectfully.

Her loves.

Her three.

Her forevers.